From Behind the Mask
by Ve12y
Summary: Love, humor, punctuation, and more! What else could a fanfiction reader want? Leave your suspension of disbelief at the door. No refunds.
1. It is all about the size of your Bankai

**Author's (that's me!) Blurbs.**

Greetings would-be readers! This is my first time trying my hand within the realm of fan fiction. Normally I would peruse these forums, shifting through the crap to hopefully find the gems within, but I did little feedback or getting involved within the community. But, mostly to keep my writing skills in shape, I've decided to do a fan fiction totally different from what I normally write (usually fantasy).

As an author's note pertaining to this story, I feel it necessary to point out a few things about this story. One, I will leave out most, if not all, Japanese honorifics. It's a story in English, and I feel it is necessary to keep it true to said medium. Sorry if this offends anybody.

Two, I am going to change a few things. Neither the story arc, nor the exact words said will be exactly true to the original series.

Anyway, hope you enjoy. Constructive criticism not only welcome, but encouraged.

**From Behind the Mask**

Chapter 1: It is all about the size of your Bankai.

_Fear is perhaps ones of the greatest paradoxes of humanity. When harnessed properly, it can motivate us_ _to excel above and beyond our limitations; often for no better reason to prove to ourselves that we can do it. There is a sort of epiphany that results from such things; one feels lighter as if one is walking on air; logical, for it is the unfettering of one's own mental chains. _

_In that brief moment of elation, we are invincible._

_And yet far too often do we let fear fester within us. There is nothing more debilitating, more paralyzing, and more degrading than what results. Instead of motivation, it becomes a wall blocking our path to self growth and exploration. It makes our blood run cold, our limbs sluggish, and meddles with our thoughts. It can reduce even the most able person into the very basic of creatures; one acting on barely more than self-preservation._

_The worst facet that it can spiral like a whirlpool, trapping us within our own self-made nightmare. What does one do when our path is clouded? A strong willed individual can perhaps fight his way out. _

_But such things are the exception, instead of the norm. _

_Such journeys only become possible when you have someone with you, someone to lend a hand and guide you through the fog..._

Bright light flashed with every powerful swing, the resulting clash of the two weapons sending shockwaves of power that rippled throughout every corner of the execution grounds and the nearby areas of Soul Society. It was if the land itself shuddered in anticipation of the fight to come.

Two titans were locked in combat, each trying to get across their beliefs in perhaps what is the purest language of all. One represented law and order, the very fabrics of what he believed made up a society. The other fought against those rules, insisting that one with power should fight against that which is unjust, law or not.

Physically, the two were as different as their beliefs. One wore the traditional cloak and robe that indicated the position of a Captain of Soul Society. His hair was black and formal. Everything about him oozed a quiet dignity; from the porcelain pallor of his face, to the calm demeanor in which he fought.

The other, in contrast, had a simple black robe and bright orange hair. His movements reflected said hair; being flashy, violent, and unnecessary to the extreme. But there was a undeniable spark of energy behind those eyes that just couldn't be extinguished. He was enjoying this fight, that much was obvious. Every ring of metal was accompanied by a grin.

"Bring out your Bankai, Byakuya_. _All of this fighting, and you've yet to cut me up like you promised you would." The orange-haired combatant taunted as their swords locked against each other.

As if by mutual agreement, the two pushed off, skidding back several feetwith their swords coming up in the guard position. "Impudent brat, " Byakuya spat during the momentary respite, "How dare you just demand such a thing! You talk as if a mere human would stand a chance against a Bankai! You are still a thousands years too young to waste my Bankai on."

"Pull it out and prove me wrong." The orange-haired fighter gripped his sword, the bandaged hands tightening around the hilt as if drawing strength from it. "I came here to rescue Rukia from Soul Society. You are her brother and yet you are trying to get her executed! I cannot forgive such a thing! So I will crush her brother with all my power, and take her away from here with my own hands! Victory here would mean nothing if you're not at your full strength!

Byakuya's eyes widened ever so slightly. "Hmph. As you wish, Kurosaki Ichigo. You should feel honored, you'll be the first human ever to see this." As the words left his mouth, he held his sword out in front of him with one hand, blade down, and unceremoniously let it go. To Ichigo's astonishment, the sword did not hit the ground like he expected, instead it vanished, swallowed up in its entirety by the earth.

"What did you–?!" Ichigo's words died in his mouth as the ground erupted huge archways of swords, a proverbial gleaming tunnel of death.

"Bankai. Senbonzakura Kageyoshi."

"Senbonza..." Ichigo's words trailed off as he stared at Byakuya's display of power. What now?

Time seemed to slow down as each of weapons dissolved into millions of cherry blossoms joining together to form a vibrant pink swirling mass. Ichigo had to admit quietly to himself that it was beautiful. Every one of the petals seemed to catch the light ever so subtly, bending it to cascade a thousand different hues of pink in all directions.

Such thoughts were dashed as Byakuya raised a single hand toward Ichigo, and the petals responded, rushing forward, each one now reflecting his inevitable demise on their mirror coat. Panic filled Ichigo's eyes. _MOVE!! _He screamed at himself, but his legs wouldn't respond; they were leaden with fear.

_Get a grip on yourself, Ichigo. _The comforting voice of his sword, Zangetsu, sounded in his head. _You are not alone. Always remember that._

"Aye, old man." Ichigo whispered, taking a deep breath and immediately feeling calmer; his resolve was back. He couldn't afford to die here, he gave his word to his friends. Ichigo braced himself and pushed off, the crimson wave crashing down were he had been only a moment before.

_I can do this. Just have to keep moving! _

Dodge left, shift right, jump. Each successful avoidance of the cherry blossoms brought him a bit closer to their owner and Ichigo saw his chance in as he narrowly ducked yet another attack. _He's open on the right!_

He barely rolled under a wave, the stream of cherry blossoms slicing strands of his hair off in the process. But his gamble left him in the perfect position to counter attack. Setting his foot underneath him, Ichigo pushed off with a burst of speed, his sword high and leading the way. The razor sharp weapon hissed as he brought it down with all his force, only to come to a complete halt against a pink wall of blossoms. _WHAT?! He can use that to be defensive as well?_

A surprised Ichigo barely had the sense to tumble back, narrowly avoiding being sliced to ribbons as the wall almost came tumbling down on him. Now it was Ichigo's turn to be on the defensive. The cherry blossoms were everywhere, coming at him from all angles, pressuring him from every direction. He was on his backs of his heels more often than the balls of his feet, giving ground with each attack, barely managing to do more than dodge. Using the length of his sword in desperation to block a particularly vicious attack, Ichigo had the hunch to look up. What he saw terrified him.

Byakuya had set him up. He was surrounded on all sides by that crimson wall of death. He had been herded like an animal! Even as his eyes widened at the realization, the dam broke, drowning out his ensuing scream with the dull roar of millions of tiny cherry blossoms coming down with enough force to shake the entire plateau.

The petals dissolved in the wind, leaving a broken and battered Ichigo at the bottom of a crater created by the impact. "As you can see, brat, my Bankai is the perfect defense and offense. Now you realize how foolhardy you were, but it is too late. Your journey ends here."

"Damn...damn...damn..." The orange-haired fighter seethed through clenched teeth, using his sword as a prop to get back on his feet. Still, though battered and bleeding in several places, he wore a wry smile. "Foolish me. I got too cocky. I thought perhaps I could go further. But I was wrong to try to fight a Bankai without releasing one..."

"Quiet, brat. The way you talk makes it sound like you have already achieved Bankai."

"Did I stutter?"

"It is impossible for a mere human to achieve Bankai. It is the pinnacle of Soul Society. Those who achieve it are destined to forever to be remembered, assured of greatness in the annals of history. It takes thousands of years to attain, and you say you have it after only a few months? Don't make me laugh, brat."

'Then watch and see."

* * *

A short distance away, a bright glittering pair of yellow eyes watched the ensuing battle with rapt interest. Said eyes were firmly socketed in a black feline head, attached to a feline body quite comfortably at rest in a feline manner on a tree branch. For all intents and purposes it looked like a normal cat, from the gently swishing tail to the way it managed to even make the act of lounging look smug.

But it was the eyes that gave it away. Two orbs that radiated such intelligence were not normal, even for something as typically shrouded in superstition as cats. Perhaps that's why Ichigo wasn't that surprised when said cat had rescued him, nursed him back to health after his fight with Captain Kenpachi, and later turned out to be a female. Ironically, the only thing that had really surprised him was the fact that Yoruichi, as she was known in both forms, was naked when she transformed.

The mental image of a stammering Ichigo made Yoruichi mentally chuckle, even as she watched the life and death fight unfold. She felt like smacking him for even trying to take on Byakuya without his Bankai, but it didn't stop the sensation of pride she felt as she watched the fight. He _had _gotten a lot stronger than even she expected.

She had known Byakuya long enough to recognize when he was flustered, and the image on his face at the proclamation of the kid's Bankai was enough to almost send her into fits of laughter, but then she'd probably fall off the branch and such a travesty would be a gregarious blow to her feline image. So she just mentally filed away that image for later stories, probably with Kisuke over some saki...or better yet, milk.

Her mental wanderings were ripped forcibly back into reality as she felt a sharp spike of reiatsu. _Ah, yes! The kid's going to release his Bankai for the first time! This should prove interesting..._Yoruichi always liked seeing Bankai. She felt it told a lot about a person, and she was curious what Kurosaki's Bankai would reveal about her orange-haired student. She hadn't really known him that long, but with the way his growth was accelerating, it might be prudent to teach him how to use that power sooner rather than later. She shrugged that notion off, that could worried about _after_ he beat the snot out of that cocky ass Byakuya.

She didn't have long to wait. Ichigo had his sword extended out in front of him as he summoned the energy necessary to release his swords ultimate form. The shockwaves of the release could no doubt be felt all throughout Soul Society, and she worried that perhaps more would come to see what was going on. _Hurry!_

"Bankai!" The rippling waves of power reached their climaxes, sending violent crackling blue flashes as he practically hummed with energy. A thick cloud of dust rose up, obscuring everyone's vision and almost as quickly as it had spiked, the reiatsu vanished. _No...not vanished...it's restrained..._

Eagerly, Yoruichi shifted and stood up, leaning forward in anticipation. Slowly a figure came into view, fading in like a forgotten dream. Ichigo now wore a black, red lined, tattered cloak that flapped in the wind, and his sword was now dark as midnight and no longer a huge chunk of metal, but instead a long straight-edged katana that flickered with the promise of death in the afternoon light of the execution grounds.

_Well now, Ichigo, I AM impressed._ She always held more stock in subtle power. No point in having something huge and bulky to show off with. Perhaps that's why she liked cats so much?

Yoruichi's cat ears picked up words being carried by the wind. "You call that a Bankai, brat? There is no way something so small and insignificant could be a Bankai."

_You're wrong...You've always been too proud. You let it blind you, Byakuya boy. Show him Ichigo! Don't make me a liar! I promised to make you strong enough to beat him! Show him!_ She pouted a bit. He couldn't hear her mental cheering, but it made her feel better, so she did it anyway.

"I will crush you and execute Rukia with my own hands!" Byakuya shouted, the petals echoing his cry as they swirled into existence.

Both Yoruichi and Byakuya blinked in surprise. Even as the Captain has mounted his attack, Ichigo had vanished and reappeared, the deadly edge of his blade now resting against Byakuya's throat. _It was...instantaneous!? My eyes couldn't even follow him... _Yes, Yoruichi was very impressed.

"Come, Byakuya, you can do better than that." Ichigo taunted, removing the tip of his blade and jumping back a few feet.

Byakuya rubbed his throat self-consciously. "Why did you remove yout blade from my throat?" Ichigo said nothing. "Very well, you'll regret throwing away the key to victory just now! You were just lucky this time, miracles only happen once!"

Once again the petals swirled, and the fight continued. Ideal versus ideal. Order and law versus freedom and choice. Who would win? Yoruichi didn't know, but either way, it should be very interesting to watch...


	2. Genius Interupted

**Author's Blurbs 2.0**

Greetings fellow readers! Just writing another chapter due to sheer boredom. I do feel it prudent to warn you that this will be the last update for a few days, perhaps weeks. I am moving to a new duty station (Fort Bragg) and will, of course, have to get my bearings and all the things required for a new Soldier of a unit.

Now on to the subject of the story. I intend for this to be pseudo-epic, and no doubt I am biting off more than I can chew, but as such, it will probably develop at a far slower pace than a lot of fanfics. In case you just have not noticed, this is eventually intended (because pairings are all the rage) to be a Yoruichi and Ichigo fanfic. Mostly because I don't think she gets enough screen time for such an interesting character, and this is my attempt to hopefully flesh out her character a bit more than a lot of raging hormonal fanfics degenerate it to (seriously...if I peruse one more that has her practically THROWING herself at whomever...).

Mandatory disclaimer alert! I don't own the characters to Bleach, because if I did, I wouldn't be writing this. I'd probably be using my wealth to subjugate some third world country to my tyrannical iron-fisted rule.

Rambling aside, on to the story! As always, criticism is always welcome!

**Chapter 2**

The sun was bright, the birds were chirping merrily, and all was right in the world...well at least Kakura town, which pretty much was all his world encompassed anyway. His store was packed full of fresh produce for his regular customers, and several new inventions of his was just sitting in wait for those customers of a more...spiritual persuasion. It was one of those rare days that he could just loaf around doing absolutely nothing. Not that Kisuke Urahara needed an excuse to sit around, but at least now he didn't feel nearly as guilty about it.

Plus, as he always reasoned, what better way to cook the creative juices of the mind than to sit out in the sun on a comfortable lawn chair, feet propped up, with a nice cup of tea? A scientist was just as much of an artist as anyone else; for such a field was just as prone to epiphanies and road blocks as painting a picture or writing a book. His best work always came to him when he was relaxed, and he could just _feel_ the tingling of a brilliant idea tickling the back of his mind, like an itch that just can't be scratched...

"Hey Kisuke!" He sighed a bit inwardly, there went any promise of a quiet afternoon with his formulae. But he recognized that voice as belonging to Yoruichi, a long time childhood friend, one time lover, and now house pet of his. How could one even feign annoyance at somebody with such a range of roles in one's life? It'd be like alienating several people at once, he figured. Too much hassle.

Putting on his biggest, and most assuredly goofiest, grin that he could manage, he turned around in his lawn chair, waving at the black cat gracefully standing above him on his wooden fence. "Heya, Yoruichi! What brings such a vixen to visit a poor old shopkeeper such as myself?"

"Shut it, you pervert." Yoruichi said as she gracefully jumped down, padding over softly to a better vantage point of Kisuke. "I'm here on business. Save the theatrics for later."

Out came the trademark fan, fluttering in front Kisuke's face, a visual representation of his amusement. "Ah, so harsh you are! Is that any way to greet a friend?"

"Want me to greet you in a more physical way? One involving a balled up fist to the back of the head?" The way she had said was obviously meant to intimidate...but Kisuke saw an opening that just screamed "take me". He couldn't resist.

"Oh baby. That's a bit too kinky for an old man such as myself. If you promise to be gentle, I just might do it though..."

"Kisuke..." Yoruichi growled, the black tail swishing back and forth in anger. Kisuke might be eccentric, but he wasn't suicidal. He knew when to let up on a person, anyway, he had his fun.

"Alright, alright." He hastily said, setting down his tea and using his hands as if physically placating her as well. "I was just kidding!"

"You're always 'just kidding'. I'll be inside."

* * *

He held his smile for as long as it took the cat to leap nimbly to the porch and through the window, then he put on what Ururu lovingly dubbed "The Serious Thinking Face" as he mulled over what possible reason Yoruichi could have to visit him. Obviously, as she had said, she was here on business, so that ruled out a platonic visit for a saucer of milk. After a few moments of intense thought that gave him no answers, he shrugged. What better way to find out than just to comply to the vivacious woman's whims? If he was lucky she might just change into human form, allowing him time and excuse to ogle her.

Humming a little tune, he picked up his cane that hid his sword, Benihime then, after a moment of deliberation, he picked up the cup of tea too. No sense in wasting it after all.

Still humming and imagining the Goddess of the Flash's transformation attire, he walked into his store.

Ah yes, it was going to be a _good _day.

* * *

"So, care to tell me what this is all about?" Kisuke asked the purple-haired woman as he set down a plate full of food in front of her, then set one down for himself. He was still a little miffed that she had manage to change into human form, and consequently the clothing that goes with said human form, while he had been preparing something to eat for the both of them.

He could swear that she did such things just to torture him...Ah well, might as well cut his losses and just hear her out on whatever it was she wanted.

"We have a problem."

"Obviously. Why else would you be here? Is it Ichigo and his friends?" The slight widening of her eyes gave away that his guess had hit home closer than she had expected. Now, it was completely by accident, but he would never let her know that. He had a reputation to uphold.

"Yeah, it is."

"Care to tell? I mean, little birdies tell me that everything went well over there in Soul Society, and I do so look forward to greeting them on their inevitable return back to this fair city."

"They are recovering from the ordeal. I just hurried back early to talk with you, since you're the only one I know who might be able to help with this matter."

The fan once again reared its presence. "Ah, my dear Yoruichi, I am truly honored.!" Flutter, flutter. "To think you would consider me to such a high regard!"

"Aizen stole the Hogyoku."

Surprise lit Kisuke's eyes and the flutter of his fan stilled as he stared at the woman from the bottom of his stripped hat. The Hogyoku was an invention of his. He had intended for it to be used as a way for a Shinigami to surpass their own limitations, which was only possible when used to combine them with their antithesis...a hollow. But as soon as he created the artifact, the immense power it held scared him into hiding it in the first body he was capable of: Kuchiki Rukia. And now someone had managed to locate it? "Well now, this _is_ a problem."

"That's not the least of it."

"My dear, it seems you are just brimming full of news. What else do you bring to trouble this old man's heart?" He was only half teasing, they both knew. He was responsible for the creation of that artifact...and now that it had fallen in evil's hands...

"Let me explain to you what happened during the battle between Ichigo and Byakuya. I think that might be the best way to get across my fears."

"I'm all ears, my dear Yoruichi."

"Well, Ichigo had just surprised a frustrated Byakuya with his Bankai yet again, and had almost ran him through from behind..."

* * *

"_Your Bankai condenses your reiatsu into such a small form, allowing you move and act rapidly with the full power of your spirit force?" Byakuya observed quietly, completely ignoring the blood dripping from his hand that had stopped Ichigo's blade from skewering him. "It would seem as if I had underestimated you..."_

"_Glad to hear you admit it." With a flourish, Byakuya threw back Ichigo and his sword, flicking the blood off his hand in the process._

"_I will show you something, Kurosaki Ichigo. Something which I have only shown two other people. This is something only revealed to those I intend to kill personally. The real fight begins here."_

_The air grew darker, talking on an inky black hue that seemed to smother the two combatants. Glittering pink swords surrounded them, and Ichigo could only stare in surprise. How exactly could he dodge THAT many weapons? For some reason he didn't believe he could swat them all away like he did Byakuya's last attack..._

"_Do not worry, Kurosaki Ichigo. I will not make them rain down upon you." Byakuya said, surprising Ichigo. A single sword feel down from the wall into Byakuya's hand, instantly materializing into a real blade. "I did promise to slay you with my own hand, after all."_

* * *

"This is interesting and all, Yoruichi, but I've yet to hear anything to be scared about, well, besides an irate Byakuya that is. I do find it rather amusing that the 'pride' of the Kuchiki clan got defeated by a 'lowly human'. At least that's what I am assuming happened, considering the entire lot of them are soon going to be coming home, safe and sound."

"You know more than you let on, Kisuke. No doubt you already knew what happened in regards to Aizen and his involvement in all this. And you probably already knew that Ichigo won this fight as well?" Yoruichi raised an inquisitive eyebrow, and under her knowing eye, Kisuke could do little more than blush and giggle nervously, the fan fluttering to and fro.

"Well, ya know how it is...little birdies are privy to all sorts of information."

"So you already know of the problem we have there, but I doubt you know the problem with Ichigo, and you never will unless you let me actually _tell_ it."

Kisuke received her scolding with his typical aplomb, grinning his apology at the dark skinned woman while his hooded eyes remained guarded as to their true feelings. "Oh my dear woman! I do so apologize! I just have a tendency to ramble and such! Please go on!"

Yoruichi sighed. She hated his eccentricities sometimes, but part of being friends with someone was accepting the good with the bad, she reasoned. "Anyway..."

* * *

_Ichigo's attacks no longer seemed to be fazing Byakuya. No, it seemed as if the noble was actually keeping up with the ryoka's speed quite admirably. Yoruichi was amazed by this, for at the same time as Byakuya's improvement, Ichigo was most assuredly moving slower. Why?_

_As her mind shifted through the possible reasons, she watched Ichigo take a particularly violent backhand_, _winching a bit at the sound of flesh hitting flesh._ _That had to hurt, she thought with far more humor than she felt. If the fight continued like this, Ichigo would lose..._

"_Damaged by your own spirit power. Ah, the irony." Byakuya taunted as he easily ducked a half-hearted swing, "No, I am not moving faster. It is you who is moving slower." he answered Ichigo's unspoken question._

_Yoruichi's eyes widened as it hit her. It was her fault after all. To force Bankai on someone who had not the proper materials to maintain it. There was always a drawback for taking shortcuts. Well, to be fair, she had not expected such a Bankai from the kid. And now, unless he pulled something out his ass, he was going to die..._

"_Shut up, as if I'd lose to you!" Ichigo vindictively swung his sword, only to have it trivially caught by Byakuya. The action had been performed with all the nonchalance as taking a breath._

"_As I promised, your journey ends here. But let me congratulate you. You have fought Vice-Captains, Captains, seen my Bankai, wounded me, and went far out and beyond any expectations one would have for a mere human. For that, you have my respect. Too bad it was all in vain." Raising his hand high, a sword coalesced into being within it, and the razors edge came down..._

_Only to be blocked as casually as Byakuya now held Ichigo's sword. "Wha– what's going on?" Byakuya could only stammer as he stared into the cold emotionless visage of Ichigo's now transformed face. A red-striped mask that reminded him suspiciously of a hollow had appeared out of nowhere on the kid's face, and pupils themselves had turned into pinpricks of yellow in that floated like a forlorn ship within the pitch black sea that the rest of the eye had become._

"_Ahahahahahahahahaha! Die!" The sound sent shudders down Yoruichi's spine. What had her student become?_

* * *

"Hmmmm...that is a problem." Kisuke had to admit, removing his hat (something he never did unless extremely distressed) to scratch the pallid blond hair underneath.

"You realize how similar it sounds to..." Yoruichi left the sentence hang, trusting in Kisuke to fill in what was unsaid.

"Ya, ya." He waved it off. "So...how'd it end up? I am assuming the no doubt huge increase of power from such a transformation allowed him to thump Byakuya rather handedly?"

"At first, yeah, but then he somehow managed to trump his hollow, ripping the mask off in the process. Then, both being in such a weakened state, they decided to put it all up for grabs with one final blow. It was really more of a draw. Byakuya kind of forfeited."

Kisuke chuckled. "Way to summarize something climatic and make it utterly dull. You have a way with words, did anyone ever tell you?"

"No, actually they haven't. I already told you the main important part, no doubt you know the rest. So lets get to the other important part, the fact of someone with an uncontrollable inner-hollow is now running around. He managed to fight it off this time, but who knows when next it might strike? What to do? Any theories?"

He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Well, I guess this was a risk when I gave him back his Shinigami powers. The method was rather...controversial to the say the best. I guess the only possible panacea to this conundrum is to contact _them_."

"Wait...why them? Can't you handle it? You were the leadin–"

"Contrary to popular belief, I am not the end all be all of weird and unexplained phenomena. I am just a simple scientist. Who would be better to contact, anyway?"

With a resigned sigh, Yoruichi relented."How long will it take them? Ichigo is volatile by nature..."

Kisuke shrugged. "A few weeks, maybe."

"What to do until then?"

"Beats me."

"For a genius and a scientist, you are remarkably void of ideas."

Kisuke laughed. "I'm a scientist, not a gambler. I'm sure a woman with your," and he raised an eyebrow suggestively, "assets will be able to figure out something to stave off any adverse stimuli that might result in regression until help arrives."

"Damn pervert." Yoruichi stood up, leaving the bowl only half eaten of food. The clank of a sliding door a few seconds confirmed her departure.

"This should be fun." Kisuke said outloud to himself, humming as he picked up the dishes. Well, at least today wasn't boring.


	3. Bedroom Burglar

**Author's Blurbs**

Yeah, as I was preparing all my luggage to move, I just couldn't sleep. So I crapped out this chapter. Hopefully you all like it. But my previous warning of an ensuing delay in release of material still stands.

Chapter 3: Bedroom Burglar**  
**

"Damn Kisuke..." Yoruich muttered under her breath for what seemed the millionth time that morning. How that man managed to glean everything, yet rarely, if ever, reveal his own machinations...well, to put it frankly, it infuriated her to the core. And he managed the whole damn charade in that eccentric, yet endearing, way that only he could do. It was like being bested in combat by some half-wit child that was missing an arm. Or two.

She was in her cat form, seated upon a rather innocuous telephone pole that just so happened to overlook a certain orange-haired former pupil of hers. She had woken up early this morning, and having heard from grinning Kisuke that her student had finally returned home to Kakura town, she had hastened over as fast as possible to his house, only to find herself at loss at how to broach the subject. Exactly how should she handle it? She was a creature of action, not used to dealing with such sensitive subjects.

There was always the possibility that her fears were unfounded, that the next few weeks would be rather uneventful (relatively speaking for someone that was now a substitute Shinigami) and the help Kisuke hinted at would arrive. But what if she was wrong? To have someone of that power running loose would be bad, very bad...

So there she sat, tail twitching with annoyance as she watched the orange-haired kid sprawled about his bed like some haphazard accident, snoring without a care. She had to admit it was a rather eye opening sight, to see the normally energetic kid look so peaceful. Yoruichi liked it far more than the loud mouth hot-head she normally associated with the name Kurosaki Ichigo.

She allowed her mind to wander a bit. Should she tell him of the real danger he was in? Or would it be better to just remain nearby, until a better idea came up? She knew that Kuchiki Rukia lived in Ichigo's closet. Maybe she could recruit the young Shinigami's help? Yoruichi dwelled on that thought for a bit, exploring the possible outcomes. She found it more appealing than just sitting about watching the small bubble inflate and deflate from Ichigo's nose.

With a satisfied purr that can only result from finally having a course of action to take, she leaped from the pole, noiselessly landing on the windowsill. It was child's play to extend a subtle thread of reiatsu snaking out through the glass, unlocking the window from the inside. _I guess I give a new definition to the term 'cat burglar', _she thought with sly grin as she heard the latch click open. Wedging her claws under the window, she easily edged it open and was soon walking about Ichigo's room like she owned the place.

Being it was the first time she had ever been in Ichigo's room, and the fact that she was a cat (curiosity and what not), she felt she could tarry a bit and poke around. It was only like three AM anyway.

She was amazed at how clean it was and that she actually liked how it smelled, her nose twitching here and there to try and catch all the subtle variations wafting about the air. It was a bit musky, with just the slightest touch of the cedar that his father or sisters used to clean. The smell was very close to that which hung around her orange-haired pupil when he was out and about, only it was pointedly more distinct, so she filed the smell of the room into the file of her brain reserved for Ichigo.

Acting on impulse, she leaped up on his dresser, only to be greeted with a disappointingly bare result for her efforts, for it only contained a single picture frame. Peering a bit closer at it, she allowed her eyes to slowly adjust to the darkened room, and momentarily her purring (something she often did involuntarily) stopped with surprise. It showed an obviously young Ichigo smiling with a freedom she didn't normally associate with him, and a beautiful young woman she could only guess was his mother hugging him and throwing the photographer a peace sign. Yoruichi could almost feel the love between the two, and she immediately felt guilty for her brazen breach of privacy, like she was witnessing something sacred that should only be for those involved. And it also surprisingly caused a twinge of jealousy in the depths of her heart, not that she would ever admit such a thing.

The rest of the room was remarkably bare for someone of Ichigo's age, almost devoid of personality. It kind of made sense, she figured. Ichigo didn't seem to be the smiling boy in the picture anymore, he seemed one to be out and about, not sitting in his room decorating. Doing her best to shrug off her negative feelings, she then padded over casually to the closet that she knew housed Kuchiki Rukia. _Be rude...or polite...? _After a few moments, she decided to catch this particular fly with honey.

Extending her claws, she started scrapping at the door, taking a bit of perverse pleasure at wood shavings that was the result. Harder, and harder until finally she was rewarded with a rather groggy "Wah? Wh– yawn What'dya want, Ichigo?" A bedraggled Rukia peered out of her closet, but neglected to look down.

_The daughter of the noble Kuchiki clan...wears ducky pajamas...? _It took all of Yoruichi's admittedly low willpower to not burst out laughing. "Down here, Rukia." she said, taking a bit of pride in the fact that she managed to hide the slight waver of a giggle that ran from her throat to the tip of her tail.

"Huh?" Rukia said, rubbing her eyes to clear the last vestiges of sleep, "What're you doing here, Yoruichi?"

"We have to talk. Mind if I...uh...come in?"

"Huh? Uh, sure." She opened the closet, looking a bit self-conscious at the whole "living in a boy's closet" thing.

"Nice place you got here." Yoruichi said, more to break the ice than anything else.

"I live in a closet." Rukia dead panned. So much for social politeness.

"Ah well, I guess you want to get down to business then?"

"I'm tired. So yeah, not meaning to be rude, but it would be really nice. I got a test tomorrow...err...today."

Yoruichi nodded and told Rukia her tale, though she tried to keep it as neutral as possible, deliberately leaving out the worst of her fears. The threat of total insanity and uncontrolled rampages usually had an opposite effect of keeping someone calm and composed. Still, by widening of her gray eyes and sharp intake of breath, it was obvious that Rukia probably came to the same conclusions Yoruichi had.

"This is serious...what can I do to help?"

Yoruichi had curled up on the pillow, turning her head and allowing her piercing yellow eyes to fall upon the pensive face of the girl. "Well, first let's start with the simple things. Should we tell him? You know him far greater than I, so I assumed it was wise to consult you first."

Rukia's lips pursed thoughtfully. After a few moments of thought, she shook her head slowly. "No, no I don't think we should. He has a lot of things to deal with. Not only does he have to worry about all the normal headaches of a teenage boy, but now he has a double life. The life of a Shinigami. If we can avert this without his knowledge, I say why not?"

Yoruichi nodded her assent. "Same conclusion I had. So, what should we do? Every time the hollow comes out, it wears down his defenses. Making it easier each time."

"Well," Rukia began slowly, saying her thoughts as they formed, "Why don't we...I don't know, try to avert such things? Like keeping any hollows he fought to a minium."

"That idea sucks...but I don't see much of an alternative." Yoruichi hastily added before Rukia could release her wrath at the harsh criticism.

"Well, then, am I to assume your help in this?"

Now it was Yoruichi's turn to get angry. "What?! Me? I already went out of my way to let you know all this. I don't see why I have to play babysitter too!"

"But I'm only one person, and Chad and Inoue hardly have the freedom to move about discreetly as you do. In addition, you're the only person, besides maybe Kisuke, around that can possible stop him if, knock on wood, he was to succumb to his hollow."

Yoruichi sighed, smacking her head in a very human-esque fashion, prompting a poorly concealed giggle from Rukia. Glaring at Rukia, she said. "Fine. What is it you want me to do?"

"What? You're asking me?"

"You know him better. Where would my skills best fit in?" Yoruichi smiled maliciously, let the Kuchiki brat be put on the burner.

"Uh...not sure. Why don't you just make up a reason to hang around him? Two is always better than one."

"So I'm a glorified babysitter?"

"Consider the alternatives."

She mulled it over, and with a grunt of displeasure, reached out a paw and opened the closet door with ease.

"If I am going to be here, might as well be comfy." With that, she jumped down, trotted noiselessly to the foot of Ichigo's bed. A quick wiggle of her haunches and small leap later, she was plopped rather comfortably on rumpled sheets on the corner. Circling a bit and pawing (cat habits die hard), she finally felt at ease enough to curl up in a tight ball, tucking her head in the folds of her own body.

It was a minor consolation that at least the smell of the room didn't drive her crazy. It _was_ rather pleasant. With one last irritated growl, she allowed sleep to take hold, dreading what the morning may bring...


	4. Best Laid Plans of Cats and Men

**Author's Blurbs**

Gah! Why can't I sleep? I got a 24 hour bus ride tomorrow, and instead of resting, I am writing this! I hate you all!

In all seriousness, hopefully this is the last chapter I write before I leave. As a plot note, I feel it prudent to point out that I have it in this universe that Ichigo's family knows about Rukia living in Ichigo's closet and are cool with it. It's something I plan to explain later, but not right now. So just roll with it. I'm the author here, and my word is law!

As always. I don't own Bleach. I'm not really that original to come up with something like this. So it should be self evident. If I was, I wouldn't be writing this. I'd be writing for a living.

Constructive criticism is always welcome. As are reviews (ones that go beyond "GO DEW NEXT CHAPTAR!"). I'm writing this on no sleep, so be gentle. Just kidding. Make it hurt!

Oh speaking of which...I need proof readers for my own personal story. Feel free to IM me at Ve12y (AIM) or email me at if you are interested in fantasy. Though I am in the Army, I do plan to one day publish a book. Shameless plug for the win?

Enough blabbering before this section becomes longer than the actual story...

Chapter 4(I'm so original it hurts): Best Laid Plans of Cats and Men...

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

There a many universal things in nature, laws that in effect govern our lives. One such law is the encompassing habit for alarm clocks to have the most annoying sounds procurable by human engineering. Ichigo's particular alarm clock, a ten dollar trinket he had purchased at the local store, was no stranger to this rule.

As it was, the damnable thing was droning on in only the monotonous way such a creation can achieve, probing the inner depths of his sleep and forcing his reluctant eyes open with a zealotry that would make most monks blush.

_Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep._

With a loud groan Ichigo rolled over, and his ensuing response was also a universal law in the fabric of time. He reached over, slapping the cheap blue plastic clock with enough force to knock it to the floor, where it remained. Silent. Blissful silence. That minor victory achieved, he slung one arm across his face, trying in vain to hang on furtively to whatever sleep remained.

Needless to say, it was a losing battle.

Eventually, he summoned the willpower to swing himself out of bed. Or at least he tried to. Instead of his intended motion, he hit something soft and giving, and in the flurry of arms and legs that followed, he somehow had managed to tumble out of bed, hitting his head soundly on the carpeted rug.

And now, following said laws, he reacted as his nature dictated. "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?" he fumed, jumping up to scan the messy pile his sheets had formed on the ground as he rubbed his head in consternation.

Something moved, wiggled really, beneath his pale blue sheets, and, going against normal logic and sound reasoning, Ichigo, his anger momentarily forgotten, curiously picked up one corner. Like a flash, a black blur zipped out, colliding with Ichigo's face. He couldn't do anything, other than fall back and flail about. "What th– aaahhhh.". He panicked, eventually running smack into the closet door with a loud _bang_, where he could go no further.

Whatever it was, it moved with a whirlwind of motion, and it was _sharp_, he could feel the ripping and tearing on his flesh. It hurt. A lot. Reaching for some type of handhold, he managed to grab whatever it was off his face, and with a grunt, he flung it at the wall with all the force he could muster. He was rewarded with two rather satisfying _splats_. One of the object hitting the wall, then a far softer (though still satisfying) sound of it landing in his laundry basket.

"Honestly, why the hell are you being so loud so early in the morning...?" A messy haired Rukia complained, warily opening the door to peak out.

Ichigo was too busy feeling his face to really pay attention. There was splotches of blood on his hand and his face burned painfully. "Something attacked me."

That got Rukia's attention. She still remembered Yoruichi's talk only a few hours ago. "Huh..what did Ichigo?" She swung herself down, warily scanning the room as if the unmentioned assailants could pop out at any moment.

"It's in the laundry basket." Ichigo spat, reaching over to pick up a baseball bat that Tatsuki had so conveniently left in his room last time she had been over. Holding it ever so carefully, he crept with such great care over to the basket that, had the situation not been possibly dangerous, Rukia would have burst with laughter.

Suddenly, as Ichigo was nearing the basket, a furry black head with flashing yellow eyes shot up from its depths. "I'm going to kill yo–" Yoruichi's threat stopped mid-sentence as the bat came swiftly down, hitting her with a solid _thud_. The cat slumped over, somehow managing to almost drool back into the confines of the basket. It is no easy feat to make a furry ball of flesh drool, either.

"Hah! Take that...wait..." Ichigo peered closer, rubbing the grit of sleep from his eyes as he did so, "Oh shit! Yoruichi! What the hell are you doing here?!"

Panicking, he picked the cat up. She was non-responsive. "Speak to me!" he shook her. When that did nothing, he started shaking her harder. "Talk to me, you damn cat!"

With a sigh, Rukia pushed past, rescuing the cat from further abuse by wresting it out of Ichigo's clutches. She laid the cat on Ichigo's bed, while a freaked out Ichigo hovered by. "Is she dead?" he whispered.

"Of course not, you dolt." Rukia said, smacking Ichigo for good effect. "Look, her chest rises and falls evenly. You probably just surprised her. As if a bat could do any lasting damage to someone like her."

The threat now over, Ichigo's mind was now allowed to wander to different prospects. "Oh is that so?" he picked up the bat again, having discarded it in his previous panic. 'Well then, can I get a few more good whacks in? She has to pay for this." Ichigo pointed to his face, the crisscross of scratches plainly visible to Rukia in the soft morning light.

"You idiot. No, you may not hit her more. Plus she probably did you a favor. It's an improvement in my opinion."

"What did you say?!" When Rukia ignored him, he _hmphed _and decided to cut his losses_, _spinning around on one heel to head to the bathroom and go through his morning before-school routine. As he walked out, he managed to trip his dad, who had popped out of a nearby closet to try and tackle his son. Muttering, he ignored the declarations of love from his father, closing the bathroom door.

A few moments passed by and he returned with a toothbrush in his mouth, much to Rukia's silent chagrin. "Sho, wut iz she doin' here?" he mumbled between brushes.

"No idea." Rukia lied, "I figure it must be important."

"She wuz schleeping in my bed. I dun't think dats why shhe came. Or..." and Ichigo paused mid-brush, his mind flickering back to how she acted when she first showed him her transformation. He immediately felt his face become as hot as liquid lava. "...or at lheast I hope not."

"Pervert. Of course not. Your stupidity aside, I'm going to clean up. Don't manage to cause any other wounds to her in my absence."

"Hey, Rhukia?" he mumbled, small flecks of Crest coming out with every word. Rukia had to resist smacking him just for that. "I jhust rhealized. How'd yhou knhow Yoruichi wuz a fhemale?"

"You moron. I'm a noble of House of Kuchiki. How would I not know the others of my ilk? You do realize that she is, in effect a princess, the _head _of one of the noble clans of Soul Society? I'd recognize that name anywhere. It was well known she had run off with Kisuke, anyway."

"Why dhidn't you lhet me know?" he asked, eyes widening in surprise at the seeming importance of the person he had just carelessly bludgeoned.

Rukia shrugged, "Why should I? It doesn't matter in the long run. Why? Do you find her _hot_? Do you wish to get to know her in a more..._intimate manner_? You know, I hear through the grapevine that her and Kisuke are no longer an item...interested?" she asked, a lecherous grin growing of her face as she raised a single eyebrow in suggestion.

Stammering, and with Crest now flying with wild abandon, a red faced Ichigo went through a whole list of denials. "I'd nhever. It jhust could have shaved me shum embarrassin' situations, iz all."

"Ichigo. If you do not finish brushing and spit that toothpaste out in the sink, you will be laying next to Yoruichi very soon..." Rukia threatened, now throughly tired of his nearly incoherent speech and the multitude of toothpaste _not_ being spit into the sink.

Knowing that he had pushed his luck, Ichigo nodded, grumbling a bit as he went into the bathroom. A very loud spit later, he was back, wiping the remnants off his face with the back of his arm. _Guys..._Rukia rolled her eyes, pushing past him so she could use the bathroom.

"Keep an eye for when she awakens. We only have half an hour before we have to head out to school." Rukia said on the way out.

"Yeah..." Calmed down and now feeling awkwardly alone in his room, Ichigo sat down and stared down at the still unconscious Yoruichi. _Hard to think this little fur ball is a princess..._he mused. _Stranger to believe that she was ordering me around and training me at a point in my life too._

Acting on impulse, he picked her up, setting her carefully down on his lap. One of the most ancient laws of the universe states that if left to his own devices, a human will always want to eventually pet any furry animal, and Ichigo obeyed his urge. He secretly liked cats, anyway. It just wasn't something he advertised, just didn't seem very manly. But he did admire the way they moved, the deadly grace they displayed with every silent ripple of muscle. Plus, the urge to pet Yoruichi was something that had only gotten stronger ever since he found out that she was able to talk. He couldn't exactly explain why he wanted to do so, only that was something that he wasn't going to pass on now. Not when such a golden opportunity presented itself.

Using the tips of his nails, he scratched under the chin and neck of the cat. He had long since learned that this was a favorite of the normal cats, so he figured it might work on this...well whatever Yoruichi was. With a gulp, he figured he would need every advantage when the princess woke up...

So he sat, enjoying the relaxing sensation of his fingers on the soft fur, the warm body on his lap, and the slow rise and fall of each breath.

He was so dead.

Might as well enjoy what little bit of time he had left before she woke up and chopped off his head.

As the old saying went, "_Hell hath no fury like a woman hit over the head with a blunt weapon."._


	5. Death in Tight Pants

**Author's Blurbs**

How's everyone doing? I arrived here at Fort Bragg, and I am amazed at the amount of free time I have to do stuff. It's a total change from AIT, and I am enjoying the freedom. I have, of course, discovered the internet café, which is allowing me to upload this update. I'll try to keep the chapters short, but interesting, mostly because I only write when I reach a roadblock on my own story, or when inspiration strikes me.

I'll also try to keep a regular update schedule, and I certainly enjoyed the support. The offer for a proofreader to my own original story still stands, but only if you have a high tolerance for pain.

Please feel free to send me reviews, cash, first born children, sisters' telephone numbers, and anything else pertinent to this story. I, of course, do not own Bleach. I wouldn't be in the Army if I did, crawling through dirt and catching grenades with my teeth.

Oh, last and final note. I have been using the powers of Wikipedia to find spelling and plot points, but if anyone notices something totally not right, please feel free to neuter me via email.

Chapter 5: Death in Tight Pants

Kurosaki Ichigo continued to pet Yoruichi, his hands gently running the full length of the cat's body again and again, delighting in the inexplicable pleasure that resulted from the contrast of callouses and soft fur. He found himself strangely relaxed, not nervous at all at the prospect of his imminent death upon the eventual awakening of the cat. A small, hidden part of him wished that she really was his pet, because this simple act had calmed him far and beyond what he had expected. For once the nagging guilt of his mother's death took a back burner, and the never ending voice of his inner hollow ceased to be as loud. All from merely petting a cat. Well, Yoruichi was actually an attractive woman, but when she was in this form, Ichigo found that fact easier to ignore. Even thinking about doing what he was doing now to her human form was enough to turn him beet red, his heart doing back flips in his chest.

Suddenly Yoruichi's upper lip twisted in a silent growl, and a nervous Ichigo nearly dropped her out of surprise. _Way to go, _he thought wryly when he realized she was still unconscious, _drop her on her head, Ichigo! That's the best way to wake up an unconscious cat– woman. Woman-cat. Whatever._ _She must have just been having a dream...nothing to freak out about._

The black cat remained ignorant of his near accident, continuing to growl at some unseen assailant, the tiny paws moving in a paddling motion, as if chasing something. _Wonder what she is dreaming of..._Ichigo smiled a bit. It was kinda cute, in a way. This rare insight totally offset his normal view of the woman, who usually portrayed such a cocky and omnipotent attitude to everyone around her. It was nice to see that even this mysterious woman had faults and embarrassing traits.

She gave a particularly strong jolt that also had Ichigo jumping, before relaxing with a long shuddering sigh, snuggling a bit further into his lap. _What IS she dreaming of? _Ichigo wondered again, starting to feel a bit worried. He allowed his hands to linger on her side, feeling the rise and fall of each breath, the slight beating of her heart, lending her his silent support in the only way he knew how.

* * *

"_I'm_ _sorry, Yoruichi, but I am breaking it off between us." Kisuke said, sorrow filling both his eyes and his voice._

_The purple haired woman didn't even attempt to hide the pain in her expression, barely managing to choke up her response. "Why, Kisuke?"_

"_You deserve so much more. Someone who can love you as whole-heartedly as you love. Someone who treats you with the reverence that befits you. Someone who can give you what I can't."_

_Yoruichi couldn't understand it. What was he saying? She had sacrificed so much to be with him. Given up her position, rank, and social status. All for him. True, she had tired of such a life, and the path of a fugitive was far more interesting, but it didn't stop the occasional pang of loss and loneliness she sometimes felt._

_The very shop they were in now was a result of their partnership. He had always dreamed of setting up a shop, dreamed of a simple life, something being the owner of a simple grocery shop would afford him. And it would allow him to continue his work. So, when coming to the real world, they had worked hard to set up this establishment, but they had worked with a smile on their faces, for they had each other and that was enough. Or so she had thought._

"_Stop speaking in riddles, Kisuke." She said, using anger as a shield to her breaking heart, "Why would you do this to me? I thought...I thought everything was wonderful between us."_

"_It was." Kisuke said, moving closer to Yoruichi, arms going out reflexively as if to comfort her, before obviously deciding against it. "I can't explain it, but I don't think I am your type. We are fighting an uphill battle. I am, and always will be, one to place his work above all else. I just can't help myself. Someone as beautiful as you," he reached up, allowing his thumb to trail the curvature of her cheek, " deserves someone who can properly reciprocate what I cannot." _

_She slapped the hand away. "Fine, Kisuke, if this is what you want. I'll give in. It's over between us." She then turned sharply on her heel, storming out of his shop, hurrying to get away from him before the first of her tears fell._

* * *

"Ichigo, are you ready yet?" Rukia's voice interrupted his silent vigil over his one-time teacher. "Come on, we're going to be late for school."

In that hectic moment, Ichigo mastered the ability to travel faster than the speed of light; managing to set the cat down, jump to his feet, and grab his backpack in the same motion, ending with the perfect pose of innocence as Rukia opened the door and walked in.

"Yeah, I'm ready!" he said a bit too cheerfully, rubbing the back of his head in his nervousness. No way was he going to allow Rukia to witness such a moment of weakness. She would tease him unmercifully for weeks if she had seen his indiscretion, and the last thing he wanted was to start a war with her...mostly because she usually won.

Observant eyes looked between both Ichigo and Yoruichi, instinctively sensing something was amiss. When her senses could detect nothing, she gestured towards the door. "Come on, our friends are downstairs waiting. Yoruichi will be fine, though I don't think you'll be fine when she wakes up and you come home."

With a nod, he followed her out the door, managing one brief glance at the cat. He didn't hit her _that_ hard...did he? _Sweet dreams _he wished her silently, though he felt absolutely silly for doing so.

Shaking his head, he shut the door and chased after Rukia, ready for another hectic day of school.

* * *

"Yoruichi, are you okay?" The softly spoken words were the first thing to jolt the unconscious woman back into the grips reality; the sensation of being shaken lightly, expectantly. Of course she also felt the same familiar tinge of sadness that everyone feels the first few moments of awakening from a dream. Perhaps it was the mind refusing to believe that the seeming reality was nothing more than an illusion of sleep; or maybe it is regret of what once was or could have been, but whatever the reason, it didn't stop the ache in Yoruichi's heart from being so very real.

The few seconds passed quickly, and as Yoruichi's senses became attuned with the real world, she was rudely made aware of a few glaring problems with her current state. One, her head hurt like hell. It seemed to throb with pain in time with her heartbeat, with each sharp spike feeling like her skull was being split in two. But pain was nothing new to her, considering her previous profession.

No, what really got her attention was the fact that she was comfortable. Really, really comfortable. "Yoruichi?" The voice inquired again, once again breaking her forcibly from her comfort zone. _Leave me alone _she pleaded silently, enjoying wherever it was that she was.

"Wake up! I know you're not sleeping! What are you doing in Ichigo's bed?!" This time the voice was about as subtle as a heart attack.

That got her attention, and she opened one eye in anger. Sure enough, it was the ever persistent and self-proclaimed heart-throb, Kon. The modified soul, complete with his yellow stuffed bear body, was squatted over her, no doubt enjoying his temporary position of power. It wasn't often that a doll got to lord over someone, after all. Well, Yoruichi couldn't allow this to go by unpunished. "For a stuffed animal, you sure make a lot of noise." She said smugly, standing up on shaky legs. The world seemed to spin and it was all she could do to calm the strange sense of vertigo and not tumble down in what would no doubt be an undignified heap. Which was the last thing she wanted someone like Kon to see.

"Stop dodging the question!" Kon countered, pointing an accusing finger at her, "What're you doing here? This is _my _house!"

Though she was grateful the loudmouth modified soul was too ingratiated with what he was saying to notice her bout of weakness, she couldn't continue to allow him to continue his unending stream of accusations. She was Yoruichi Shihoin, damn it, and she _did_ have a reputation to uphold.

"Will you shut your mouth? Last time I checked, this isn't your house. You're just here because you have some weird fetish for Rukia, and you hope one day the planets will align, giving you a chance to sleep in _her _bed. Plus, if you want to get technical, you're in his bed too. Which would make you a hypocrite, at best, and no doubt a pervert at least."

Her little diatribe seemed to stun Kon, and he just stared at her for a few seconds, his bottom jaw moving a bit as he tried to process what she just said. "Y-yo-you didn't have to be so mean!" he finally fumed, flopping himself down with his back towards her and crossing his arms, no doubt sulking over her admittedly harsh words.

She ignored his tantrum, "Speaking of which, where is Ichigo right now?"

"Probably at school." Kon pouted a bit, allowing a few seconds to pass as he mulled over something, "It gets kinda lonely here, ya know. I think we should make up. I'll forgive you, 'cause you were left here too, like me. We should find something for us forgotten ones to do! We don't need their help! Yeah!" He jumped back on his feet, now totally absorbed in his rant, "Isn't that right, Yoruichi?" No response. "Yoruichi?"

He turned around, only now noticing the now open window, and the suspicious lack of a certain black cat. His face fell. "So mean..." he mumbled a bit, before looking up with a devilish grin on his face, "Alright then! I don't need her either! Kon is a one man army! I got this!"

It was only a mere hop away for him to reach the window but the view point was enough to make him question his resolve. "Why does his window have to be so high?" he lamented out loud to no one in particular.

With a shrug, he started slowly climbing down the drainage pipe.

* * *

_Damn that Ichigo! _Yoruichi hissed under her breath as she ran along the telephone wires, appearing no less than a black blur to any would-be observers. She was annoyed at herself a bit, for managing to let the boy out of her sight on the very first day of her self-appointed watch. But what pissed her off more was now she remembered how she got to be on his bed. _Hit me with a reiatsu reinforced baseball bat, huh? I bet he didn't even realize he was doing such a thing, either. That moron._

She didn't know if it was possible to wring someone's neck with only two paws, but that wouldn't stop her from turning into her real form and doing it if need be. She couldn't wait to get her hands...err...paws on the kid.

Someone was going to pay.


	6. Nostalgic Vengeance

**Author's Blurbs**

Greetings readers! Once again, I have another update. I figure I'll use this little intro to exfoliate (yes, I know what that means...making a joke) on a few plot points. This is going to be a bit long, but bear with me.

One, sorry for taking it a bit slow, but as I said in my last chapter, I try to keep this in bite sized chunks (usually around 1800-2k words) since it's mostly just a little distraction for me (No proof readers, little to no editing etc). Plus I believe one shouldn't have to sit down and dedicate yourself for a few hours in front of a monitor in order to digest the latest chapter of a fanfic. Sorry if this turns a few potential readers off.

Two, this chapter is a bit more somber than my last couple. Mostly because I try to encompass the broadest range of emotions for the characters. Often fanfics do a great job of keeping a character in character...if it was still an anime. Most characters of an anime are little more than stereotypes. For example, the character of Keigo. He's basically a one-dimensional comic relief (and unfortunately due to him not being the focal point of this story, will remain generally so). If he was a real person, his mannerisms might be the same, but every person undoubtably goes through a whole spectrum of emotions outside of their "niche". To sum it up, even one-dimensional characters get sad, get mad, are happy etc. I bring this mostly up in relation to Ichigo's thoughts in this chapter.

Three, I know I labeled this story action/romance. I'll get to both eventually, but I am the steadfast believer of a firm foundation. These are the building blocks for the meat of the story, and I am not about to rush through it so I can stick a couple more sword fights or steamy shower scenes in (Damn it! I gave it all away!)...

Thanks for the nice reviews, I appreciate the support. I'm going to ask any future reviewers to do me a favor. When you review, say one thing you liked and one thing you didn't like about that particular chapter or the story itself.

As always, I don't own Bleach. I'd be living in Japan if I did. Mmmmmmm...Geisha girls...

Chapter 6:Nostalgic Vengeance**  
**

Highschool is a vicious place, full of hidden dangers and pitfalls for the uninitiated. Much like an iceberg, the innocuous tip often belies the turmoil and drama hidden right below the surface. It is an environment of constant fluctuation; people vying for ranking and acceptance, whether it is popularity, sports, grades, or countless other unspoken status quos.

Inevitably, someone gets trampled.

It is amazing how entire groups of innocent and generally nice people, when given the right situations and stimulants, can degrade into the very basics of cruelty, often bordering on the precipice of animalism. Frequently one never realizes the consequences, nor how callous they are really being, until many years after they graduate, when the effects of their actions already have taken on repercussions beyond their control. Hindsight, as the saying goes, is 20/20.

And yet, despite instinctively knowing all of this, every kid wakes up everyday and plunges headfirst into the chaotic social waters of school, daring the predators of the murky deep with every passing day. What is it that lends us the strength to do so? Wouldn't one be driven mad?

Kurosaki Ichigo hated school. He really did. But, for him at least, it was his friends that made it tolerable. They were dependable. Someone with a life as chaotic as his needed a steadfast anchor to keep it rooted in reality. As he walked down the lime green hallway, he already knew what to expect.

"Ichigo!!" The familiar voice of Keigo Asano echoed down the hallway, drawing curious glances from the surrounding students. And, as always, he missed tackling Ichigo, instead managing to clothesline himself on his friend's outstretched arm. _Dad and Keigo would make good friends. _Ichigo mused as he watched Rukia calmly step over the sprawled out boy.

"So cruel! Why do you always do that to me? Don't you care that he did such'a mean thing to me, Rukia? Did you two find new friends or something? That's it! You found new friends! NooooOOooo!" Keigo was up to his legendary theatrics, now currently kneeling in the middle of the hallway, lamenting his apparent betrayal to whatever god, or student, that would listen.

"Really, Keigo, you talk too much." chimed in Mizuiro Kojima, the ever calm anti-thesis to Keigo's antics. "Heya, Ichigo and Rukia." he waved to the pair, almost as if it was an afterthought.

"Hello, Mizuiro!" Rukia beamed in that overly cheery voice of hers that always managed to grate on Ichigo's nerves, though he ignored it as he nodded his own greeting to the black haired boy.

Eventually Ichigo's feet had taken him to his home room door, and he, as always, looked forward to opening it, if for no other reason that it gave him an excuse to see his friends.

"Hello, Ichigo!"

"Greetings, Kurosaki Ichigo."

"Ichigo."

"Sup, Ichigo?"

Like clockwork, the rest of his friends were there, trying to frantically catch up what the others have been up to in the time they had been apart. Chad, Inoue, Tatsuki, and (though he would never admit it) Ishida. They were his pillars of support. His friends.

_Why am I in such a gloomy mood? _He wondered absently as he took his seat. Typically he was apathetic to the core, so why would today be any different? Ichigo allowed his thoughts to dwell on the subject for a bit as he idly watched the banter between the members of his group.

Inoue was telling them of a weird dream she had, while Rukia was attempting to draw her own dream, complete with the poorly represented cute woodland animals that inevitably went with it._ Seriously. Worst. Drawer. Ever. _Ichigo grumbled a bit inwardly, but it was a true testament to his stormy mood that he didn't even voice his opinion as the rest were having a good laugh at the two girl's expenses; though he did manage a half-hearted smile.

Yoruichi. That would explain his current mood. He felt bad leaving her there. Ichigo prided himself on looking out for his friends, and his mentor certainly fell underneath that broad reaching umbrella. In his mind, it was if he somehow failed her. _I hit her in the head with a baseball bat, and despite Rukia's claims, I think I might have hurt her. Not sure how, but I think I did._

It occurred to him that he knew very little of the mysterious woman, and this fact also irked him. He had only learned this morning that apparently she was a princess of some noble family. Such blind oversights just reminded him more of how little he knew of his friends, and inwardly he was terrified that, considering their current line of work, how he would handle it if something happened to any of them. Ichigo resolved to try and find out more about her.

After a few more moments of thought, he broadened the resolution to include all the new people he met while in Soul Society as well. They seemed like a decent enough bunch of people, when they weren't trying to kill him that is. He'd start today. His mood felt a bit lighter now for the self made promises gave him direction and purpose.

Ichigo rested his chin on hand and stared out the window. _Hope she's doing okay._

"Ichigo? You alright? You seem kinda out of it." The ever observant Tatsuki asked, leaning forward a bit to look him in the face.

He glancedat her out of the corner of his eye, giving her the most incredulous look he could manage. "What kind of question is that? Of course I'm fine_."_

Tatsuki's eye twitched, a sure giveaway that she thought he was lying, but Ichigo was relieved when she seemed to drop the issue. "Did ya study for the test?"

Now that caught Ichigo's attention. "Wait...we have a test today?"

"Of course, idiot." Rukia chimed in, "I told you this morning...remember?"

_No, I didn't remember. I was too busy petting a cat that was really a princess, and I also have the issue of a inner hollow that I have to constantly fight off, because I am terrified of it possibly taking control of me, so excuse me if I forget a few things here or there. _Of course he didn't say his thoughts out loud . "No, must have escaped my mind, I was too busy teaching a certain someone how to operate the ever complicated 'juice box'." The comment generated the expected amount of laughter, much to Rukia's chagrin, but more importantly, it drew the attention off of Ichigo, who had already turned his gaze back to the window.

_Test huh? _Ichigo sighed. He hated being depressed almost as much as he hated tests. _I hope a hollow attacks soon, I'm already bored as hell..._

* * *

Ichigo might have been a bit more worried about his own safety had he known that the subject of his thoughts was currently perched on the tree outside his classroom window, black tail swishing back and forth as she plotted her vengeance. _No one hits me on the head with a bat. Inner hollow be damned._

Of course, now came the part that annoyed her. She had to come up with a suitable way to get even with the orange-haired teenager. It couldn't be anything really dangerous, because that might bring forth his inner hollow in self-defense, but it had to be enough to teach the kid to freaking look before he swung a hard wooden sports instrument at somebody.

She brain stormed throughout the entire first and second period before she finally admitted defeat. As much as she hated to admit it, she was clueless as how to pursue her goals. But she was also patient. She resolved to see Kisuke about it when she had a window of time to do so. Yoruichi wasn't mad (nor stupid) enough to put her own personal goals ahead of her current mission, and getting Kisuke involved was more than a desperation maneuver on her part, for the man could be absolutely genius when it came to such things. She was patient, she could wait.

Her mind's eye flickered on its own accord back to her dream for a scant moment, causing her to inwardly cringe. It had been ages since she had even thought about her first and last relationship. The years had allowed both her and Kisuke to mend the wounds of the heart, though it would never go back to what once was between them. The rift was too deep and they didn't even bother to try.

A brief stab of loneliness shot through her, but she was quick to grit her teeth and shrug it off. _Focus. Guard Ichigo for now, then pay him back for hitting you when you get the chance. Don't dwell on the past. _

False bravado didn't totally hide the feeling of emptiness she felt, but it was enough. It was always just _enough_.

They say that ideas are most receptive to an idle mind, and Yoruichi was no exception. Suddenly, like a lightning bolt, it hit her. A way to turn this whole situation to her advantage! She darted off, urgency lending speed to her legs. It would be the perfect way for her to guard her overzealous student, and get him back in one fell swoop! She'd just have to trust in Rukia to guard him today, for in order for her plan to work, she had to hurry back to Ichigo's room. It was a gamble, to be sure, but as the saying went: "Fortune favors the bold.". Yoruichi considered herself pretty damn fortunate

Best part was that it allowed her to avoid going to Kisuke for help, which would no doubt save her a world of teasing. The eternally glib man was one of the few people who could always get under Yoruichi's skin, and the last thing she needed was to give him even more ammunition to use against her.

Inwardly she smiled. It should be illegal to be this damn good


	7. Goddess Who Cried Wolf

**Author's Blurbs**

Hello again. I just added this author's blurbs in after I released the story. Mostly because I was in a hurry (had to leave for a hard day of menial labor...err...being Army Strong). So I am going back and writing this intro. First the bad news. I've been busting my ass to get ready for a big FTX (field training exercise) that is slated to take place on Tuesday and last for the next two weeks (two weeks without a real shower...smexy). So, in that time, you won't see any updates and no forum crafting ( I can hear your wails now).

Good news. I'll try to put out another chapter before I leave. Sorry for the shortness of this chapter, it's short even by my standards. But I blame this again on wanting to put out a bit of content before I left. Plus, it just seemed like such an appropriate cutoff point. I used this time to also tighten up the story a bit. I plan to, when this is all over, actually edit this damn thing. But that'll probably be after my deployment in Iraq. Or during. Not sure yet.

As always, I don't own Bleach. I can't draw that well, and I barely can form a plot.

I love lamp.

**Chapter 7: The Goddess Who Cried Wolf  
**

"Heya, bro!" Yuzu greeted Ichigo as he walked into the door. The self-appointed housekeeper of the Kurosaki family was clad in her traditional apron, already hard at work chopping vegetables for dinner.

"Sup, Yuzu?" Ichigo returned the greeting, reaching over and ruffling his sister's hair as he shuffled past her to raid the fridge.

"Really, Ichigo, you're going to ruin your appetite." she scolded, crossing her arms and throwing him an annoyed frown.

"Calm down, just getting some milk."

Reaching inside, he pulled out a quart. It was half full, plenty enough for what he had in mind. "Since when did you start drinking milk?" His other sister, Karin, asked from the doorway.

"Hey now, I like milk." Ichigo retorted, opening up the quart and taking a quick swig to accentuate his point. "But 'hi' to you too. Soccer practice end early?"

"Yeah." Karin shrugged, "Coach wanted to give us a bit of rest before the big game on Friday," she put a piece of bread into the toaster, "Where's Rukia?"

"Why?"

"Need her help on my homework."

Ichigo cast a critical glance on his fiery little sister. "Oh? And you decided to ask her first, before me?"

Karin laughed, practically doubling over in her mirth. After a few moments, she finally managed to calm down enough to manage to point a admittedly shaky finger in Ichigo's direction. "As if I'd ask you. With all the time you spend running about when you should be in school, I'd be surprised you even remember the difference between addition and subtraction."

He shrugged off the comment, muttering something about "still being on the honor roll". Reaching over Yuzu, he opened up the cupboard. A myriad of plates, glasses, and other common household eating implements greeted him. Well, there was one thing missing. "Yuzu, where are the bowls?"

"Dishwasher." she answered absently, fully enraptured in the chopping at hand.

"Thanks." Grabbing a white ceramic bowl, he took his precious load in the direction of his room. A loud attention drawing cough grabbed his focus before he could exit. Karin was staring at him with an annoyed expression on her face.

"Hey, you didn't answer my question."

"Oh..yeah. She has some extra work at school to finish up on." Ichigo chuckled a bit." Seems like our Science teacher didn't like her drawings of evolution. So she made her stay over and redo the assignment."

"Bah. I'll ask a friend of mine then."

Ichigo, ever the paragon of maturity, decided to show her his displeasure at once again being ignored by sticking out his tongue and making the standard noises that usually accompany said action. Then, acting on impulse tempered with a fine dosage of spite, he ran over and ruffled Karin's hair, knowing full well that unlike Yuzu, she hated it when he did that. Deed accomplished, he beat a hasty retreat upstairs, before Mt.Karin could register his action and explode appropriately.

Panting a bit as he cleared the stairs, he finally arrived at his door. It was a rather plain door, as far as doors went. Made of wood dust, glue, and metal, it certainly didn't stand out, but that didn't stop Ichigo from hesitating as he reached for the door knob. He couldn't help but wonder if Yoruichi was laying in wait; he imagined her perched over the door like some large predatory cat, nothing but two pinpricks of yellow to mark her location as she waited to pounce.

_Well, I did bash her in the head with a baseball bat. Might as well own up for my crime. _With a gulp, he placed his faith on the peace offering in his hands and quickly swung the door open, ready to take his punishment.

One second passed. Two seconds. Amazingly, even three seconds went by and still no whirling dervish of fur and claws had descended upon him. Ichigo opened his eyes tentatively . "Hello, Ichigo." The masculine voice almost made him drop what he had in his hands. It, of course, belonged to the black cat he wrongfully beaned. She was still laying in his bed, looking disarmingly at ease on it, though she was staring intensely enough at him to make the hairs on his neck stand on end.

"Hey, uh, Yoruichi. I brought you something!" Ichigo beamed far too brightly, holding up the carton of milk.

"How kind of you. If I didn't know better, I'd say you were feeling guilty about something and were trying to bribe me."

Ichigo chuckled nervously, "Yeah...about that. I'm sorry."

"What happened to the scratches I had left on your face?" Yoruichi asked, ignoring his apology.

"Oh, Rukia healed them on the way to school." He felt his own face, as if to reaffirm his words.

"You realize you owe me, right? If I wasn't so dizzy right now, I'd rip your head off."

"Wait what do you mea–" Before Ichigo could finish, Yoruichi's eyes suddenly rolled back, her head slumping down to rest against her chest.

"Shit!" Ichigo cursed, slamming the milk and bowl on the nearby dresser and closing the distance between him and his former mentor like the righteous fist of Superman. Thankfully she was breathing steadily, but he was still worried. _I really must have hit her hard...perhaps I should get help?_ His mind ran through the possible list of people capable of such a thing. A vet was obviously out of the question, since he didn't have a clue if she anatomically similar to a cat even if she looked like one. As he mentally checked off each failure, he finally left with two possibilities. Rukia or Kisuke.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Rukia casually opened up his door at that moment. Sighing as she shrugged off her backpack, she stared at him with a puzzled look. "Damn teacher had me cleaning the desks, you wouldn't believe the crap people put underneath there. Something wrong, Ichigo?"

"I think I might have seriously hurt Yoruichi. She was awake and talking, then just fainted on me." he said, gingerly poking the cat a bit as if she might spring awake at any moment. It was obvious that he was worried, but was trying to play it off casually. Rukia found herself suppressing a smile.

She glared at the unconscious cat for a few moments, thoughtfully stroking her bottom lip as if internally grappling with something. Ichigo wished that he could read her mind. After a few agonizing moments, she turned to him. "Go to Kisuke for help. He should be able to tell, he's way more experienced with such things than I am. I'll stay here and watch over her."

Ichigo nodded, and it was testament to his concern that he didn't even grumble at being ordered around. Instead he was out of the door like a flash. Rukia waited for the telltale slamming of the door before turning back to the cat. "You owe me."

Opening both of her eyes, Yoruichi smiled a positively sadistic grin. "Come on, you liked playing this little prank on him."

"I must admit, when you texted me, it did seem rather amusing at first. But he is honestly worried about you."

Yoruichi avoided Rukia's gaze, but shrugged. "He hit me with a bat. I just hope Kisuke plays his part well. He better not make me regret deciding to let him know about the little 'incident' this morning. I can almost hear his little witty comments about me now. Anyway, I have to go follow Ichigo, got to keep him in my sights."

With a flash, the Goddess was gone, with nothing but the sharp slap of a window being flung open and the gentle flapping curtains to give indication that someone had exited.

Rukia looked on through the now open window, putting a hand on her cheek as she mulled things over. She did feel a little bad. Wouldn't it be easier to just let him know the danger? _Easier, but perhaps not right._ Still, Yoruichi's plan was pretty devious and would give her the perfect excuse to keep the boy in her sights. Rukia was committed now, she had no choice but to play what she had dealt.

_I hate poker._

Something was missing though...She paced the room, half pondering the phantom limb, half pondering her thoughts on Ichigo's inner-hollow problem. Then it hit her. He'd be all over her by now. "Where the hell is Kon?"


	8. The Plot Thinnens

**Author's Blurbs**

Greetings, readers! Back from my field training exercise, and with a rather lengthy (for me) update. I had a lot of fun, though I certainly am happy to be able to take a shower again (6 days with no shower in the mud and rain nasty). Reviews welcome. Opinions on both the direction, plot integrity, anything I might have missed, typos, and even suggestions are welcome. Feel free to throw me an email (just check profile), review, or IM and let me know.

Edit: Edited a few typos made in the throes of a weary Soldier deprived of sleep.

**Chapter 8: The Plot Thinnens**

"Really, Tessai, I don't understand how you can be good at kido, yet so bad at arranging fruit!" Kisuke sighed. The aforementioned large man was awkwardly perched on a small stepladder as he moved around oranges on display in Kisuke's shop.

"Now," continued Kisuke, "Try moving that one over there...no, the other one. Yeah, turn it a few degrees to the left. Perfect!" Kisuke clapped his hands together, a large grin on his face.

Yes, the display was perfect, as every article of fruit was placed just right to catch the eyes of any would-be customers. Kisuke considered himself an artist of science and such a specialty could be directed at people rather easily. He knew how important it was to show-off his products in just the right way. Ornate and flashy was something associated with large grocery chains, not small stores tucked discreetly in the heart of a city. No, they expected a small, humble shop with a slightly creepy, yet strangely endearing, shopkeeper. To have a rack of perfectly plump vegetables would break his credibility. So he made sure to seed at least a few subpar ones here and there, and his customers would think they were so clever for finding and _not _buying them. Everything, from the sloppily written signs, to the nostalgic scent of wood and spices that permeated the air, was designed to reinforce that ideal.

It was like a game, and he did so enjoy games.

"Alright, Tessai, that banana is situated weirdly. It looks too bright and out of place, switch it with that pineap–"

Kisuke was interrupted by a loud "HEY, URAHARA!?". It was such a surprise that the normally immovable Tessai, already precariously placed, tumbled forward, arms flailing to no avail, face first into the display. The fruits tumbled up and outward, a small avalanche of flavors and colors on the now prone man. He groaned a bit, twitching here and there.

Unfazed in the slightest, Kisuke turned to the owner of the voice. "Ichigo! To what end do I owe this simply serendipitous meeting to?"

The orange-haired teenager was breathing heavily, leaning forward in an attempt to gulp enough air to talk. It looked like he must have ran the entire way. "I..._gasp_...need..._wheeze_ your help...".

Out came the white fan, fluttering merrily. "Oh? Do tell! Come, follow me." and he turned around toward the dining room, "Oh, Tessai?" he said as an afterthought, looking behind his shoulder, "please clean up that mess." A large muscular arm jerked, sending a few fruits to roll about on the floor haphazardly, which Kisuke took as confirmation. Humming a nameless tune, he continued on, Ichigo in tow.

"Come on, Urahara, I don't have time for this. I need your help."

"Fine. Fine." he said, stopping in the middle of the hallway, "What is it that you need? I seem to have so many visitors lately..."

"I think Yoruichi's hurt and need you to get off your ass and tell me what's wrong!" Ichigo had never been particularly adept at subtlety and the emergency made him not even bother trying it.

That caused Kisuke to turn around, and Ichigo even found himself morbidly satisfied to finally get a reaction out of the old man. A dark shadow seemed to have cast itself over the pale man's face, and his eyes seemed to burn into Ichigo from beneath the mysterious confines of the hat. "Well...if you put it that way..." suddenly the corners of the eyes lifted, the shadows disappeared, and a large smile broke out, " Let's go see what the saucy kitty got herself into!"

Despite his words, Kisuke turned around and once again headed to his dining room, completely ignoring Ichigo's previous protests. With a growl of frustration, the orange haired student grabbed Kisuke by his collar, pulling him close to his face. "Don't you care at all?" he accused, "Why is it so damn hard to get through to you?"

"Ichigo," Kisuke replied calmly, "When have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?"

"Well there was that one time..."

"Never mind that. I was trying to make a point" Kisuke interrupted hastily, his fan once again materializing out of thin air to flutter about rapidly, "And when it comes to Yoruichi, I'm always serious." The last part was said with such a somber tone of voice that Ichigo was momentarily taken aback, his hands reflexively letting go of Kisuke's shirt. The stalwart scientist continued on as if nothing had happened, humming merrily. No more accusations were flung as Ichigo followed him to his kitchen.

With a flourish, Kisuke flung aside the multi-colored beads that served as an impromptu doorway to his kitchen. "Do you know what spirit tunnels are, Ichigo?" he asked as he gestured for Ichigo to sit down.

"No." Came the simple reply to both the offer to sit and the question posed. It was pretty easy to see the annoyance and strain on Ichigo's face, and Kisuke finally decided that he had teased the orange-haired boy long enough.

"Well, think of them as actual tunnels. Passageways able to be traveled through by those with the ability to access them. I won't get into the details of how they are formed or come to be, but this very kitchen happens to have one, as does your room. As long as they are connected, once can travel between the two places rapidly."

Ichigo's eyes widened in realization, "So, the reason why you were in no big hurry was..."

The ever-glib scientist nodded his affirmation, "Because I knew that I could get to your place rapidly at any time."

Looking positively embarrassed, Ichigo rubbed the back of his head awkwardly, looking everywhere but at Kisuke. "I'm...sorry..."

"Not a problem." Kisuke replied with a smile. He could just barely feel Yoruichi reiatsu nearby, and he was stalling for time for her to get back to Ichigo's place. Kisuke chuckled inwardly, no doubt the volatile woman would be livid at the lack of warning she had of his little scheme. This, of course, just made it all the more worth it.

"Alright, let's go." Ichigo nodded his readiness.

Kisuke twirled his cane in an completely unnecessary motion, ending it with a sharp snap that left the walking instrument extended, then gave an innocuous poke seemingly at the air itself. To Ichigo's amazement, the end of the cane disappeared into air, and with a single swift swipe, Kisuke literally tore a hole through space in front of them, as if it were a piece of fabric. The inside was a swirling mass of grays and blacks, constantly twisting in eclectic patterns of chaos and disorder.

"After you." Kisuke indicated the now open hole before him.

With a gulp, Ichigo steeled himself and started for it, but paused briefly to look back at Kisuke. "Hey, old man?"

"Hm?"

"I just realized something...Why do you have a passageway leading to my room?"

"Shut up and get inside."

* * *

Rukia liked to pride herself with her degree of situational awareness. Very little got by her, and she had an observant eye for detail, at least by her obviously biased assumption. One can imagine her chagrin, then, when one moment she was sitting peacefully on the floor by her closet-turned-home, and the next was spent in a chaotic tangle of arms, legs, and poorly spewed curses.

One thing she obviously had not accounted for was the near instant materialism of Ichigo and Kisuke right above her, nor their defeat to the forces of gravity that caused them to tumble down right upon her head.

"Hey, what the hell?!"

"Kindly remove your foot from my face."

"Then get off me."

"God damnit, stop moving! My hand!"

"I said 'remove', not 'kick'."

Eventually the three managed to untangle themselves from each other, though not without even more heated curses and vows. There was much huffing and puffing, in addition to angry glares and glances, before one of them finally caught their breath enough to speak. "What are you doing just falling on poor unsuspecting people's heads? Why don't you look before you fall like an idiot?" Rukia fumed, her hand clenched at her sides as if she had to physically restrain herself from smacking her classmate, which was likely the case.

"Perhaps if you weren't so blind, you might have seen us!" Ichigo countered, one of his eyes twitching with annoyance.

"Blind? You're the one who couldn't even find a good landing spot!"

"Come on now," Kisuke intervened, physically inserting himself between the pair, "You're forgetting the real reason we're here."

At his words, both Rukia and Ichigo looked guiltily at the sleeping form of Yoruichi. After a few agonizing seconds, they both threw up temporary peace flags. "Fine. Whatever. Just figure out what's wrong with Yoruichi." Ichigo mumbled, his arms crossed.

"I'll be outside, 'cause I need to make a few reports to Soul Society." Rukia said, pulling out her phone and deliberately avoiding Ichigo's gaze.

"You go outside too. Need to perform my inspection in peace." Kisuke ushered a surprised Ichigo out the door after Rukia. With a relieved sigh, he shut the door and after a second of thought, used Benehime to summon a bloodmist wall in the doorway, totally sealing it from prying ears.

"Quite the pair, aren't they?" he said, turning around.

"You've got no idea." Yoruichi muttered, jumping up and stretching out the kinks that developed from pretending to be unconcious.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Kisuke asked, pulling up a chair to the side of the bed and sitting on it. He stared at her directly in the eyes.

"Yes. It's a great plan. It'll allow me to stay nearby without raising any suspicions. Plus it'll pay back my dumbass student for hitting me with a reiatsu empowered baseball bat."

"Still," and Kisuke's eyes shone with seriousness from beneath his striped hat, "I don't approve. His friends are one of the few things Ichigo guards fiercely, and you obviously fall under that category. If he ever finds out..."

"I don't recall ever agreeing to be his friend."

"Why did you train him then? Why go through all this trouble so he doesn't fall prey to his inner hollow?"

"To beat up Byakuya. He needed to be put in his place. And the part about his hollow, it just wouldn't do to have a berserk hollow of that magnitude running lose in the town."

"Hm, fine, whatever. I'll go along with this only under protest."

Yoruichi smirked, "As if you ever needed an excuse to work mischief."

Ignoring her remark, he dispelled the bloodmist wall. He paused at the entrance, throwing Yoruichi one last glance, before twisting the knob and flinging it open. Kisuke was greeted by two eager pairs of eyes, both waiting for the result of his "examination".

"Well?"

"How's she doing?"

In a completely inappropriate train of thought, Kisuke was reminded of the scenes from doctor drama films where the family belatedly awaits the news on the condition of a family member. It was hard to bite back several appropriate jokes in light of a such a realization. Instead, he deliberately paused and allowed the tension to build up until it became almost palpable. Right as the final vestiges of self control began to leave Rukia and Ichigo, he relented. "She's fine and not fine." Even he could admit it was a lame line, and he resolved to work on his comedic timing later.

"Whuddya mean by that?" they both said at once, practically getting cheek to cheek to stare up at him.

"Looks like she had a pretty nasty hit on the head. From what I can tell, it will result in blackout spells and whatnot for the next couple weeks or so. There is a slight possibility of it being an indication of something worse."

"Oh wow..." Ichigo mouthed, his eyes drooping with guilt.

"I'm going to assume it was you?" Kisuke asked Ichigo.

"How'd you know?"

"What other person do I know with an overabundance of reiatsu? Most likely you accidentally poured a lot of it into whatever it was that you used to hit her." The nervous way Ichigo fidgeted was enough to confirm it for Kisuke, had he not already known the cause.

"Well, what now?" Rukia stepped forward, right on cue. If Kisuke wasn't aware of her role in this entire fiasco, he'd almost believe her performance.

"We'll have to keep watch on her. And by 'we', I mean primarily Ichigo."

"Wait...why me?" Ichigo looked suspiciously back and forth between the two.

"Well," Kisuke began, entering what he dubbed "lecture mode", "There are several reasons why. One, I can't transport her through the spirit tunnel. It is way too volatile for such a malady. Two, it'd be best to not transport her at all, for head injuries are a shaky prospect at best. And three, you're the one that hit her, it'd be only natural for you to be the one to nurse her back to health. Unless," and he lifted his hat up slightly, "you'd rather not take responsibility for your actions?"

Ever one to rise to the occasion, Ichigo responded exactly as Kisuke expected when presented with a challenge, "Oh yeah? Fine, I'll do it!"

"Good!" Kisuke clapped his hands together, somehow giving physical finalization to Ichigo's proclamation before the teenager could even think about retracting his statement. "That's settled, I bid you farewell. If you need help, you know where to find me."

With one final wink, he quickly ripped a hole into the air, stepped in, and was gone in a blink of an eye. "Wow," Ichigo mouthed, "That was fast..."

"Ichigo." Rukia grabbed his attention, "She's waking up. Have fun trying to explain to her that she has to stay here for a while. I'm getting the hell out here until everything settles down, or bedtime, whichever comes first."

The shutting of his bedroom door left Ichigo abandoned in the room with the awakening woman-cat. In less than half a minute, he had been left to his own devices. With a groan, Yoruichi stood up, stretching and yawning. He suddenly felt very alone..."Awww...crap."

* * *

A sinister baleful moon shone harshly upon the bone-white sands of Hueco Mondo, the hard angles and grains catching the light ever so subtly as to reflect an eternally pale glow that made the already sinister landscape all the more surreal. Ever facet of the inhospitable world was a twisted mockery of its real life counterpart; from the soulless creatures that stalked the sand dunes, to the towering crystalline trees that shimmered in the horizon.

It was here that the soul-devouring creatures known as hollows raged their eternal struggle against the human world and Soul Society. It was a self-appointed crusade against those that had what they could no longer attain. A soul. The emptiness of this world, the way it devoured hope, coupled with the ever present ache of a missing soul, fueled their hatred. They would kill and devour, all for that temporary elation one feels upon consumption. Then, inevitably, the despair would return, and they would be forced to once again hunt the souls of the living and Shinigami. A vicious, never ending, spiral.

Amidst the sullen hopelessness of the vast desert, stood the dread castle of Las Noches. The pinnacle of hollow power stood as a solemn reminder to the lesser inhabitants of their place within the hierarchy of these lands. For within the dreary confines of the stilted towers and imposing ramparts, plotted the most powerful of their kind. The Arrancar.

High up on a single balcony, two figures stood, silently gazing out into the cold void. "A penny for your thoughts?" The figure nearest to the entrance said, breaking the silence like a thunderclap. He stepped into the light as he spoke, revealing pallid white hair, and a thin bony face that housed a perpetual smile that didn't quite touch his eyes.

"Ah, Gin, studying human expressions again?" The later asked, and this figure wore his brown hair slicked up and back, the black and white tattered robes of a Captain of Soul Society fluttering in the ever present breeze behind him, but it was his eyes that showed his true nature. Cold, brown eyes that showed a hidden cunning beneath a seemingly innocent facade.

"Ya could say that. Passes the time, ya know? So what're you cooking up, Sosuke?"

"Just thinking." Aizen drummed his fingers lightly on the railing, seemingly staring off into the distance.

Gin joined his side, leaning on his forearms against the cold stone. "Why'd you always make me pry stuff outta ya?"

Aizen chuckled, "Sorry, old friend. Was just thinking of a way to occupy my time as we wait for the Hogyoku to fully awaken."

"Oh do tell. I'm pretty bored right now."

"Remember that human?"

Ichimaru's grin got a little longer. "Yeah, feisty little guy."

"Did you sense it? A disturbance in his reiatsu?" Aizen asked the eternally slant-eyed man.

Gin nodded, his smile flickering to a half frown for just a moment. "Ya, there was a darkness somewhere in him. Never felt that before, though. Why?"

"He could be a problem. He managed to attain Bankai in only a short time, fought Byakuya to a standstill, and did _this_." Aizen held up his hand for Ichimaru to see, the very hand that had seemingly blocked Ichigo's sword with nothing more than a casual thought on Aizen's part. The white-haired Shinigami gasped lightly. A large, painful looking, purple bruise ran up the entire side, and the edges were just starting to change to a dull nasty yellow and green.

"I'm surprised he managed to hurt you. But why do we care?"

"Spies report that he joined Soul Society."

"Still..." Ichimaru pushed. He was used to Aizen's roundabout ways, and he knew what to ask to eventually pry the information out.

"He has an inner-hollow, Gin."

The smirk vanished, now replaced with a frown of concern. "How'd he do that? I thought ya needed the Hogyoku to achieve such a thing?"

"Not if you're human, apparently, and especially not if you have Kisuke Urahara manipulating you."

Ichimaru half drew his sword, "I could kill him now, if you want."

"No," Aizen shook his head, "That would solve the problem, but it would take away a potential advantage."

The white-haired man let his sword slowly slide back in its sheath, "And that'd be?"

"He hasn't learned to tap into it. To control the inner-demon raging inside him. Right now there is an eternal struggle going on within him. One that can only have two outcomes. One, he manages to gain control over it, and his power increases exponentially, or two, he succumbs to madness within himself, allowing the hollow control over his body and becomes a mindless monster of destruction."

"And why shouldn't I just kill him?"

"Simple," a third voice chimed in from behind the pair. This one belonged to the dark-skinned blind-swordsman, Tousen, "Master Aizen is saying that though killing him would get rid of the problem, it is possible to ply it to our advantage. If we could force him to succumb to his inner-madness, no doubt Souls Society would be forced to intervene. With such a power running lose, they would inevitably suffer losses before slaying him. It would be killing several birds with a single stone."

"Well put, Kaname."

Ichimaru's expression remained doubtful, "How'd we do that?"

"I'm sure I can figure something out. Something that will push him to the brink of despair and beyond." Aizen stared up at the pale moon, "This place is really beautiful at night."

"It's always night."

"Therefor it is always beautiful." Aizen countered, continuing to stare at the celestial being in the sky, "Either way, it should help pass the time until we're ready to strike, right?"

"You're kinda cold," Ichimaru remarked, his grin expanding far enough to encompass most of his face. A single eye was visible now, one that seemed to almost applaud and take delight in Aizen's decision. "I must say, to treat the life of a kid with such an attitude. I like it."

With that, the pale Shinigami walked away, lightly humming. When the man had left, Aizen turned to his stalwart companion. "What do you think of this, Tousen?"

"He smiles at everything." The proud man answered, taking a knee as he spoke, "I don't trust him. Someone that smiles for no reason is either a fool or a schemer, and you want neither on your team."

"You're blind, how do you know he smiles?" Aizen pointed out. He was only teasing of course, but he knew Tousen wouldn't take it that way.

"One does not need to see in order sense his sinister intent, Master Aizen." Tohusen responded smootthly. "Perhaps it is the blind man that is not confused by the illusion of sight?"

"Hm, indeed. And my plan concerning the human?"

Tousen did allow the ghost of a smile to grace his lips. "Should prove a worthy diversion, at least until the justice of our final attack is to be delivered."

Aizen pursed his lips. "Indeed."

The moon continued to shine even brighter.


	9. Enter: A Challenger is You!

**Author's Blurbs:** Yeah, yeah...been a long time since I updated...been really busy. Currently deployed in Iraq now, so I think it's a bit understandable. But do not fear! For I have not forgotten you, my loyal readers. Now the chapters might be a bit shorter than usual, as evident with this one. And I feel it's a bit rougher (oh baby), mostly due to even less editing and tightening than usual. But it's out there and I'll be editing it and revising (a writers work is never finished) as time permits. Hell, this intro is a day late edit in and of itself.

Anyway, yeah, I'm far too poor to own Bleach. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

**Chapter 9: Enter: A Challenger is You!**

The moon, a pale presence in the eternally midnight sky, shone down upon the bleach-white sands of Hueco Mundo, the light reflecting off the multi-faceted grains, causing the land to almost glow with an eerie sinister intent. The stark stillness of the air was broken by an abrupt and sudden explosion of sand as a large solid object burst from a nearby dune with a screeching roar.

The object skidded to a violent halt, large clouds of dust streaking out behind it as friction fought inertia, only then revealing that it was, in fact, a sentient creature. As the sand fell around it, one was able to make out four muscular limbs, each adorned with a myriad of wickedly tipped spikes and ending in a large, sickle claw that gleamed in the ever-present moonlight. It slithered back a few paces from the dust that hung about the air, revealing a bone-white exoskeleton that sheathed the creature, each "piece" fitting together like a suit of armor, though there was a large, perfectly circular hole in the chest cavity. A skull-like head, the eyes mere pinpricks of glowing red light, finished off the macabre ensemble as it swung on the serpentine neck toward the hole it just vacated. Every muscle in its body seemed to tense, deadly claws raised, as if waiting expectantly for something, or someone, to follow it.

The eyes glowed brighter as the long moments passed…but nothing revealed itself. The creature gave off a low-clicking sound, as if in disappointment. Slowly, the muscles eased, and it seemed to relax its vigil, if just for a moment. A moment was all that was needed. As a shadow flickered above it, the creature seemed to realize that it had erred, but it was too late. Another body slammed into it from above, driving the snake creature into the ground with a wince inducing crunch and sharply cutting off its gurgled cry of surprise.

There was a brief struggle, a sound of flesh and bone being ripped forcefully from its owner, the muffled cries of pain, before silence once again rang out across Hueco Mundo. As the dust settled, the victor stood supreme, silhouetted against the black canvass of the sky.

Bone-white, just like its victim, it looked very much akin to the dragons of legend. Powerful hind legs held its prey in place as the last of the death throes wore themselves out, and the forearms had already started ripping and splitting the tough outer skeleton, the purple blood oozing off its clawed fingers as it stuffed hunks of still warm flesh into its gaping maw. Leathery wings and the sinewy tail flicked and fanned to maintain balance as the creature sated its hunger, each mouthful sending waves of power coursing through its body. For not only did he consume the flesh, but in killing and eating his adversary, the creature increased its own literal power; becoming faster, stronger, smarter.

Still, and the red eyes narrowed, it wasn't enough. It was never enough. It would kill again. And again. It was a never ending cycle. Each influx of power only increased its yearning for more…it was so close…so close to that next level…The beast could feel that promise, dancing just barely out of reach, flitting as if a dream. It was an insatiable primal urge. Yes…soon…very soon. He would ascend…

The slightest noise alerted him that he was not alone. It was the lightest of footfalls, but to this veteran of Hueco Mundo, it came with all the subtlety of a gunshot. With a snarl, it whipped its horned head around, facing down whatever impudent being that would dare challenge him.

The challenge died in its throat, and the red eyes widened in surprise. The figure was no more than a mere shadowy outline against the bright light of the moon, but it exuded such a sense of power that the normally proud creature could not help but be humbled. The being stood with an air of supreme confidence, all weight shifted calmly to one side, a fact which only perturbed the dragon-like creature more. No one walked so carelessly through the sands…unless…

"Ahhhhhh…" said Gin, his eternally slitted eyes absorbing the scene out before him. The aftermath of the fight was quite…what was the word…exquisite. "Seems like I found what was looking for. What's your name, hollow?"

It wasn't so much of a question, as it was a demand in the disguise of the hollow having a choice whether or not to answer, though one of the two options was not really an option…if the hollow wanted to continue going on living that is. Briefly, the hollow considered attacking this small being…if it could get him in arms length, surely it could rip him limb from limb…

A subtle wind carried itself across the sands at that moment, causing Gin's robe to gently follow the path of the breeze. As if sensing the hollow's thoughts, the grin got wider, though never truly touching his eyes. Common sense prevailed, and the hollow answered, if somewhat reluctantly, in a deep voice that scrapped and clawed across one's ears. "My name is Grianliare." The hatred in the hollows eyes was palpable.

"Ah, good, ya know? I've got something for ya." Again, not so much of a request as a demand.

Still…one didn't live as long as he did by being stupid. "What is it…master?"

Gin's grin finally touched his eyes.


	10. The Peanut Gallery

**Author's blurbs**: Yeah, yeah. I realize it has been a long long time. I'm back from my deployment and had a few...issues to deal with. I'm glad to say I'm back, though a bit worse for the wear. Personal problems aside, I'm glad to be back. Not much story progression going on in this chapter, since I feel the need to take it slow.

You can insert some generically witty statement here about how I don't own Bleach.

**Chapter 10: The Peanut Gallery**

_"Hey, King, what do ya think you're doing here, eh?"_

_Ichigo's eyes snapped open. Once again he was in the inner world of his sword, Zangetsu. The vertigo that went with the realization never failing to make him sway despite this becoming a regular habit as of late._

_The sky was the same azure blue, along with the same nimbus clouds slowly moving in their constant route over the endless sea of skyscrappers. And here he was, defying gravity and standing on the side of one of the buildings, and right in front of him, almost close enough to lick, was the same black-white mirror image of himself. His inner hollow._

_The maniacal grin of his clone just deepened as Ichigo finally grasped his surroundings. "Boo!" the hollow deadpanned, seemingly delighted in his own personal joke. As always, this angered Ichigo enough to swipe at the offensive creature. And once again, the hollow had jumped back before the arm had even moved._

_They both noticed that the strike wasn't nearly as fast as it was before. In this world resolve and mental strength translated to real physical strength. This was as much a duel of the minds as it was of sword and steel. And Ichigo was weakening. They both knew it._

_"Get the hell out of my way!" Ichigo fumed, "Where is the old man?"_

_"He had to go shopping!" the hollow cackled before mysteriously disappearing. _

_Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise as the pale mockery of his own hands were suddenly clasped tightly around his head, as if to crush it. The flesh was cold to the touch and the feeling seemed to almost spread out, as if the heat the orange haired boy possessed was being slowly drained to fuel the sick machinations of his inner hollow. _

_Ichigo's feeble counter attack was stopped before it even really began by a simple squeeze, causing him to cry out in pain. He was briefly aware through the flashes of lightning that danced before his eyes that he had dropped his sword as his hands grasped the hollow's wrists in desperation to lessen the vice-like grip. Ichigo didn't care at this moment._

_The hollow buried his nose in Ichigo's hair and inhaled deeply, seeming to almost savor the scent. Ichigo's stomach curdled at the thought. "Ahhhhh...the smell of your body! I can't wait until it is mine!" Of course this caused the substitute Shinigami to start thrashing violently, anything to shake the malevolent grip of this...thing._

_The creature lowered his cold dead eyes level with Ichigo's, smirking at the boy's attempt to throw him off before giving one large shove, pushing with an unresistable strength that had Ichigo flying back several feet to the ground._

_"Really, King, this is the best you can do? Perhaps I should claim what is mine now, eh?" humming a little tune, the hollow casually unsheathed his weapon, walking over to Ichigo, who only stared at his own weapon, several feet behind his attacker. Ichigo's limbs had gotten heavy, weary. The hollow was winning this mental battle. _

_Raising the sword high above Ichigo's head, the hollow only breathed one word, "Die!"_

_Ichigo shut his eyes...but surprisingly no deathblow came. Seconds passed before he dared to open them. A hazarded glance from one forced him to open the other. The tell-tale black katana of his Bankai was jutting from the chest of his assailent. Instead of anger or surprise, his hollow only looked annoyed. "Hey! Old man! Can't you just let me have a little fun for once?"_

_"No." Ichigo at once recogized the silent nobility of the voice that answered. Zangetsu._

_"Bah! You got lucky this time, King!" the fading voice of the hollow taunted as strips of its flesh began to almost melt away into the wind. "I'll see you very soon!" with that final warning and a quick tweak of Ichigo's nose, the hollow disappeared, with only his otherworldly laughter remaining behind to ring in Ichigo's ears._

_"Thanks, old man."_

_"Ichigo. You must become stronger."_

_"I know. But he is wearing me down." Ichigo's stomach fell, he didn't know how long he could continue to do this. If Zangetsu hadn't intervened..._

_"Excuses. Rise and fight, Ichigo. With my power, there is no need for his. He exists because you allow him to."_

_"Easier said than done, old man."_

_"Then do."_

_With those final words, Ichigo's grip on reality and his literal grip on the side of the building gave out, and he fell with a soundless scream..._

* * *

"Is something wrong, kid?" the deep voice of Yoruichi penetrated the thick haze of Ichigo's inner thoughts.

The man shook his head, both in response to the cat woman's question and to clear the muddled gel that his day dreams always reduced his mind to. Secretly though, he was worried. The daydreams, if could he really even call them that, were becoming more frequent and this was the first that he had ever blanked out in the middle of the conversation...

He tried to remember what it was that he was doing before this last attack..."Anyway, kid, you're a overeager dunce with too much energy...buuuuuuut I might be willing to not kill you." Yoruichi continued, the incident seemingly forgotten. _Oh right...I was being threatened..._

With the way Yoruichi pratically purred the statement and was waiting expectedly, no doubt she was waiting for him to pry as to what her forgiveness required. "What must I do to live?" he sighed, his mood throughly shattered.

The cat's yellow eyes narrowed with suspicion. "You sure you're okay?"

"Yeah."

"Fine. I guess you can start your repentance with some milk. And not the skim crap either, but the good stuff. Grade D. A saucer before I go would hit the spot."

Ichigo grimaced. He hadn't explained what Kisuke told him to do. "Ummm...yeah...about that. You kinda are stuck here."

"What?" Ichigo couldn't help but notice the claws were unsheathed now. They looked pretty sharp.

He took a deep breath, pinching the brow of his nose. It was all a bit much. "Look. You have a concussion. Apparently I hit you a bit harder than we all thought. When you passed out I got worried and got Kisuke to look at you. He told me that you needed a week or so of bed rest. I sort of got voluntold to watch you."

Ichigo held his breath as Yoruichi digested what he said. "Well," the cat began slowly, "I guess I can take a vacation. Your bed is pretty comfy. And it'd be a good way for you to learn to not hit random animals over the head."

The orange haired highschool student practically did a facevault, "Bullshit!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at the cat, who had settled quite comfortable looking on his sheets, "You just want an excuse to be a lazy bum! And you're not a cat! You're a...half-woman...cat...thing."

"Oh, is that so, Ichigo?" Yoruichi oozed smoothly, "Did I look like a half-cat, half woman thing when you first saw me? You did get to see all of me, if I recall."

Ichigo did a one-eighty, his face turning bright red. "Hey that wasn't my fault! You poofed right in front of me and started jiggling all over the place!"

Yoruichi started licking her paw, "Didn't seem like you minded..."

"Bullshit! Of course I minded! You don't just go around doing that shit! I was hurt at the time! I didn't need to lose more blood!"

"And now I'm the one that's hurt. Shoo. Go get my milk."

For a second Ichigo stood there, as if debating to continue the arguement. He didn't like being dismissed like a servant. Reaching a decision, the grumbling highschool student finally turned, muttering things like "unpredictable woman" and "royal brat" under his breath. Still, as he closed the door, he thought it didn't turned out too bad. His face wasn't clawed off and the arguement had distracted him from the ever stronger nagging of his inner-hollow. The free-spirited woman had taken her impromptu confinement with surprising calmness.

Now if only he could make it through this nursing period without killing his patient...

Yeah...

* * *

Yoruichi stared at the sleeping face of Ichigo from atop her perch on his bed. He had quite adamantly refused to share the bed with her, protesting that it was a perverted thing to expect, even if she was a cat in this form. She personally found it quite humorous that he'd give an entire bed to her just because of one small incident.

The orange haired teenager was snoring quite loudly, managing to take up far more space on the floor than he should have with his nighttime tossing and turnings. She had to admit she preferred him like this instead of that over energetic loud mouthed boy he presented while awake. Yoruichi still found it a bit weird to see the calm side of Kurosaki Ichigo, as she did this morning; to not see his face contorted with some extreme of an emotion. He was almost cute, in a shiny new novelty toy sort of way.

Unfortunately for him, she didn't intend to stay in this form for the entire stay of her charade. The transformation was quite a strain on her reiatsu over a long period of time and she needed rest periods between each long stint. Plus, she mentally added, the look on his face the first time she showed him her true form was priceless. She found herself enjoying her teasing of the naive highschooler. It'd be worth it to do it again.

Silently she lept of the bed, padding lightly onto the carpet. With a quick poof, she felt the familiar realignment of bone and muscle, her _original _form. She sometimes felt like a stranger in her own body with the amount of time she spent in her cat body, so the effect was a bit disconcerting. Shrugging it off, she opened Ichigo's one dresser, since she didn't think Rukia would appreciate her poking around the closet for something to wear.

She found the dresser surprisingly neat and organized, and it took no time at all to find an oversized T-shirt to wear and a pair of boxers. Yoruichi always was a bit of a tomboy anyway, so the clothing came as no drastic change. She had to give the kid credit in one thing, he had a good taste in clothing.

Right as she pulled the shirt over her head, she felt a flare of power and a bonechilling scream that echoed to very core of her being. It was a familiar feeling. Her yellow eyes flashed briefly in warning before she disappeared from the room, the whipping of the curtains from the open window the only farewell as she sped toward the appearing hollow.


	11. Opening Up Several Cans

**Author's Blurbs:** I couldn't sleep, so I put out this chapter. Please note that I'm extremely tired and doing this on little to no sleep and no spell check. Please be gentle. I'll proof read this later. Reviews welcome. Suggestions welcome. Sleeping pills even more welcome. People who want to be a guinea pig and read my book more welcome...

As a final note, I'm a firm believer in music that helps a writer shape the story. I believe I write differently depending on the song. So, in an effort to get you, the reader, more in touch with the mental vibe, I will provide the music I listen to in this section and you're more than encouraged to listen to the song while reading. I have a tendency to loop whatever song I'm listening to. In the case of this chapter, it was Blood Red Sandman by Lordi.

Oh, and I totally don't own Bleach. There'd be more Kon if I did. Speaking of which, I think the next chapter will be a brief side adventure of Kon. Its been a while since we heard from him, eh?

* * *

**Chapter 11: Opening Up Several Cans...**

_Weaklings. _Grandiel sneered as he snuffed out the life of yet another soul. He avoided the human world for exactly this reason. He didn't agree with the dangers inherent with hunting here. Shinigami just made it not worth it. He preferred to hunt his own kind, at least until he was strong enough where no Shinigami could dare match up to him.

Still, the smiling Shinigami left little room for arguement. He was to go on a rampage in this world, so why not fill up while doing so? Grandiel didn't like being used as a pawn and inwardly vowed to air his grievances in a more...direct...manner when he was stronger...he was so close!

Just to further his destructive urges, he gave a sharp flick of his draconian tail, smashing the corner of a building just enough to destabilize the structure. It came crashing down, crushing its inhabitants in a pile of rubble. Each flare of reiatsu with each death gave a sharp jolt of pleasure to the hollow and it was child's play to gather up the confused souls and devour them.

Still...it wasn't enough. He needed more!

His claws gouged deep lines in the street and he was just about repeat his performance on another building, this one packed with far more victims, when a large surge of reiatsu made him pause mid-strike. It felt like a Shinigami!

"My, aren't we a big one?" a dark skinned woman appeared in the middle of the street. The hollow's eyes widened slightly. This had to be a joke. The woman was wearing the most unlikely battle uniform the hollow had ever seen. There was no Shinigami robe, no weapon...

Just a old t-shirt and a large pair of baggy boxers with smiley faces on them...Did this whelp honestly expect to stand up to him? She wasn't even wearing shoes! It looked as if she had just rolled out of bed! The percieved insult made his blood boil and he let loose a mighty roar that made the glass windows of the buildings shatter with a deafening crash.

"Impressive." Despite the words, the woman appeared nonplussed, her purple hair flying in disarray from the force of his roar.

With a low snarl, Griandiel surged forward, kicking up large chunks of concrete that showered the buildings around him and made the inhabitants cower in fear at what exactly was going on outside.

The hollow knew the Shinigami had not a chance to match him physically, so when she darted out of the way of his claws, his tail whipped around from the side with such force as to make whistling whiplash noise. It came as a big surprise when the agile woman, instead of being hit or dodging, simply vaulted over the appendage, using the tail itself for leverage with an outstretched hand.

She hit the ground, spinning, and a reiatsu infused fist smacked once, twice, three times with a solid thud in rapid succession. Pain the likes of which the hollow had never felt before raced from his kneecap, the burning making him roar with both agony and frustration. Bracing his hurt side with an arm, he brought his own monsterous teeth to bear, chomping at the infuriating woman with wild abandon. And yet she remained just out of reach, dipping, dodging, twisting on the balls of her feet. Each time he felt the air of her passing on his teeth! So close and yet so far away!

He was getting desperate. She had done some real damage to him. But he hadn't survived countless years in Hueco Mundo without knowing how to fight. Slowly, methodically, he started working her to where he wanted her, using his advantage in limbs to keep her off balance as he lined her up. _There!_ With a grin as she stopped for a brief moment against a building wall, his maw opened and a red hot burst of reiatsu poured forth, cooking the very air around him to a blistering temperature. As the jet of reiatsu tappered off, the hollow couldn't help but grin. He wiped that smug expression off her face!

"Is that all?" the very voice he had come to loathe inquired from the building above him. He gaped in surprise as he saw her standing there, smugger than ever. Even his trained eyes hadn't seen her move! He had to have hit her! And yet...there she was.

He gave a glance at the bubbling street before reaching a decision. He turned, gave a mighty push of his hindquarters, ignoring the overwhelming pain that resulted, and with a few flaps he was high above the woman. The tip of his tail split into quarters, revealing a massive spike housed within the fleshy exterior. With a roar and a flick of his tail, he sent the spike hurtling down, following with several more right behind it.

There was a loud crackling noise as the spikes connected, shooting a huge billowing dust cloud in the air that obscured vision. The hollow didn't need to see. He sensed her reiatsu flaring brighter and brighter, defying all logic and his attacks. What was she up to?

More than surprise greeted the dragon-like hollow as the dust settled. The building was undamaged, and there the infuriating Shinigami stood, crackling with energy. Reiatsu danced along her skin, pulsing to some hidden beat, covering her in a white sheath of pure energy. What kind of attack was this? She had completely negated his spikes!

This was too much for the hollow. No promise of death from a grinning Shinigami was worth fighting this woman. He would retreat and go into hiding. The possibility of escape was more than what he would get from this opponent. With one final roar of defiance, he turned to open up a portal back to Hueco Mundo.

"And where do you think you're going, hm?"

The lightning woman was above him in a flash, her silhouette obscurring the evening moon which did much to remind him of his home. Wordlessly, her yellow eyes flashing with the promise of death, she struck him with a simple palm strike to his forehead. Oddly enough, the hollow didn't feel any pain from the attack, but he was briefly aware of falling before the darkness engulfed him.

_Peace...at last..._

* * *

Yoruichi landed silently on a building, surveying the carnage around her with a grim expression. She had hurried as fast as possible to get there on time, but it didn't stop innocents from being hurt. It was probably the worst part about hollows. Picking up the pieces the beasts left behind. She didn't want her former student to become something that would dwarf the destruction this hollow caused. Despite her nonchalant attitude, she cared what happened to this town she called her home and for the people that connected her to her old life.

A spark of humor entered her mind as the adrenaline of battle wore off and she realized that her feet were quite cold against the cement of the apartment building. _The Great Yoruichi, princess of her family, future heir, beauty of Soul Society, fighting hollows in boxers and a shirt!_ She snickered at the thought. She briefly wondered if the hollow she killed saw the humor as well. She sure knew Kisuke would...which is why she would never tell that damn pervert. Ichigo though...he'd turn a darker shade than his hair. With a shrug and a smirk, she walked off as the hollow's body began dissolving into the void.


	12. Two Girls, One Surprised Bear

**Author's Blurbs: **Greetings again, fellow readers. Hmmmm...where to start? Well, another update, this one a bit longer. It's a bit rough, no spellchecker for the lose. Anway, to continue what I started last chapter, the song I found myself primarily listening to last night while I crapped this chapter out was "Say Goodnight" by Bullet for my Valentine, acoustic version. I'd like to point out that though I'm sort of using the main canon for the characters, I'm trying to make them a bit more humanized. I personally don't believe in pure good or evil. Everyone is a good guy in their own mind. Remember this as you read Aizen's point of view.

Also, I'm holding a pseudo contest. Send me, either via email (v.e12y2 at gmail dot com) or personal message on fanfiction dot net your ideas for your own personal hollow. Descriptions, mannerisms, anything you can provide. I will take the best ones and use them in my story, giving credit to those I shamelessly ripped off, of course. The better you describe it (aka, do my work for me) the more likely you are to get a spot. I've gotten over 1.1k hits the first day of coming back, so I KNOW some of you must have some ideas you're just itching to provide, and I am ever a public servant.

That being said, I don't Bleach. I'd be able to swim in a pool full of gold coins, a la Scrooge McDuck, if I did.

* * *

**Chapter 12: Two girls, One Surprised Bear**

It hadn't been a good day and a half for Kon. Not in the slightest. His impromptu adventure had backfired quite wholeheartedly and the diminutive stuffed animal was feeling rather dejected about it all. In fact, the only thing that kept him going was the thought of Rukia's closet at the end of his journey. He'd sneak in, cuddle up to the Shinigami, maybe get a few squeezes here and there, and finally put this whole fiasco behind himself. Of course he knew most likely the ever alert woman would probably sense his presence and throw him out on his head in short order, but Kon was sure eventually she would crumble to his suave personality. Yep...was only a matter of time...

With a great sigh of relief, he climbed the last few inches up the drainage pipe and stepped onto the roof below Ichigo's window. Finally! Back home where he belonged. No doubt they were worried about him and were probably tired from staying awake all night. Well, he'd put that to rest.

He scampered up the window to sit on the sill. The curtains were drawn. Well, no matter. Using what little reiatsu he possessed in his stuffed form, he trickled it into the latch. Surprisingly it was already unlocked. Well, all the more easier, eh? With a huff he pulled the window open and dropped down to the floor of the room.

The dark room...meaning they were asleep...

He pouted a few moments, then grinned with confidence.. They weren't worried enough to lose sleep because they had utmost confidence in his ability to take care of himself, obviously. Humming, he was almost to Rukia's door, stepping over a lump of blankets on the floor, when aforementioned lump shifted and let loose a loud snore. Suddenly Kon found himself pinned underneath an arm.

Fuming, Kon shifted his body and pushed the offending appendage away, albeit with much cursing and grunting. All he got was a snort and a snore for his efforts. He was about to yell at the owner when he saw who it was. Orange hair. Check. Snored loud. Check. Flopped around. Double check. What was Ichigo doing on the floor of his own room?

Curious, Kon used the blankets on the side of the bed to pull himself up, before finally hoisting himself over the lip of the bed. There was a lump there, under the covers. Maybe his Rukia finally asserted her obvious superiority over that orange haired jerk and kicked him to the floor where he belongs? Yeah, that had to be it! A devilish glint entered the stuffed bear's eyes...well, as much of a glint that a prefabricated children toy can acquire.

Carefully, ever so carefully, Kon reached down, lifting the covers up at the foot end of the bed. Getting on all fours, he wiggled under the sheets, like some sort of bed worm, while taking every precaution to keep his activities secret from the occupant of the bed.

What was this? Rukia wasn't wearing pajamas? No, he could see the faint outline of a very well formed leg and, after a moment of deliberation, gave into temptation, reaching out with a trembling hand. The skin was so soft and silky smooth and he slowly ran a wooly paw up and down the length. So undeniably sexy! Oh how he loved his Rukia even more for it! Who would have thought, under the ducky PJs she always wore, that she was hiding such a treasure?

He gave a small gulp and slowly made his way to his goal. The Holy Grail. The 9th wonder of the world. He was after the Promised Land, two of them, to be precise. Pushing the blanket up, as to make a tent, he tactfully laid himself down between his Rukia's two mounds of glory, fully expecting to be launched across the room by a furious Shinigami at any moment. No such thing came, though, Nothing but the slow and steady rise and fall in time with each breath. Relaxing a bit, he snuggled in the warmness a bit further.

Wow! She was bigger than he remembered! Again he inwardly marveled at the incongruity of the Shinigami that stole his heart. She was pretty awesome. With a sigh, the tugs of sleep pulled at Kon's eyes, and with the bear being more comfortable and content than ever, he was quick to give in.

* * *

Ichigo's eyes snapped open as a loud _thump _sounded off the wall. This was accompanied by much cursing. What really woke up the substitute shinigami was the fact that the voice was very much female, and it was very much not Rukia. He sat up, rubbing his eyes, before he stared agape at the scene before him.

Yoruichi, the human version, was standing with a pissed off expression on her face with her arms raised, yelling at whatever it was that she had thrown. Ichigo managed to catch the words "pervert", "taking advantage", and "I'm gong to kill you" in her tirade. Speaking of pervert, the male side of him decided to just then took notice in what the feisty woman was wearing. He recognized the shirt, it was an old blue one his dad had bought him while on a trip to the beach, complete with a fading picturesque printing of a sun rising over a tropical island. It was rather small on him now, so it was very form fitting on the dark-skinned woman and old in this case meant holes and the bits of skin that showed through that made his mind wander to all the wrong thoughts.

Then there were the boxers...which he noticed were his... The elastic waistband was just barely enough to keep the article of clothing from riding down below her waist, but combined with the small shirt, it exposed a very fit stomach and Ichigo's eyes automatically followed the curvature of the muscles downward. The ensemble left very little to imagination.

Wait a minute, what was Yoruichi doing with his clothing on anyway? "What the hell is going on?" he groaned, pulling himself up from the covers, diverting his eyes anywhere but at the woman still standing on his bed.

"Your teddy bear tried to get frisky with me last night, kid."

Ichigo looked down at the floor by the wall on the far side of the bed. Sure enough, a rather dazed Kon was slowly staggering to his feet. "What are you doing in Ichigo's bed?" the furry animal yelled with his typical bluster, one paw shaking with accusation.

"Will you shut up, Kon?" Ichigo grumbled. It was too damn early in the morning for this and Kon being a pervert was nothing new. "I've got a better question. Why are you wearing my clothing?"

"It got chilly last night, so I thought I'd grab something to keep me warm, unless you like me sleeping naked?" Yoruichi practically purred the last part, giving Ichigo a lewd wink.

"No! You know what I mean! Why are you in human form? Do you do this just to drive me insane?"

"Of course not. In case you want to know, I can't maintain that form forever. So I'm resting. Anyway, is this how you treat all your patients? I mean, you act as if you're not happy to see me. I thought we were friends?" Yoruichi teased, her lip sticking out slightly in a pout.

Ichigo was all apologies. "No no, I'm happy that you're alright, just that…well, this is all too much for it being so early in the morning. And put some better clothes on."

Yoruichi didn't miss the way his eyes avoided her. She hopped off the bed, trying this way and that to get herself in his field of vision, but no matter which way she went, Ichigo's eyes went the other way, and his rubbed the back of his head nervously.

"Something wrong, Ichigo? Why won't you look at me?"

"You know exactly why! That outfit of yours! Stop trying to embarrass me!"

"Wait…you're Yoruichi?" Kon interrupted, disbelief framing every word.

"Wow, you catch on quick." The purple haired woman crossed her arms as she looked down on the stuffed bear with disdain

"Wow, to think that man cat that was such a jerk to me could be this sexy easy woman?" Kon's eyes lit up with thinly disguised glee. The sudden picture of himself trapped between this buxom woman and his beloved Rukia was just too much of a mental image for him to contain his excitement. Unfortunately, all daydreaming was quickly literally stomped out of him by the purple haired woman.

"Stop. Being. Such. A. Good. For. Nothing. Idiot." She emphasized each word with a progressively louder stomp of her foot on the animal's head.

"Wow, isn't it too damn early for such a ruckus?" Rukia yawned, sliding out the closet door, looking somewhat amused at the situation presented before her, "I'm going to brush my teeth and go down for breakfast. Oh, and I think the shirt looks better on you than him." With one final smirk at Ichigo, she opened the door, not fully shutting it behind her.

"Rukia!" Kon was quick to find an excuse to rush out the door, abandoning Ichigo to the former Special Ops Commander.

Ichigo sighed, looking at the ground to avoid the dark skinned woman. "Hey, umm, I have to go get ready for school now. Are you going to be okay here alone?"

He couldn't see her face, looking at his toes as he was, but he heard the soft smile in her voice, "I'll be fine, kid. Go ahead, you can be my servant when you get back. Though,"she added as an afterthought, " I wouldn't mind something to read or to occupy my time. Might die of boredom."

"I'm not a servant!" he protested half-heartedly, but chuckled despite himself. She wasn't half bad, when she wasn't teasing the hell out of him.

"Of course not." She responded in a patronizing tone, patting his head, laughing lightly when he stepped back.

"Damn women." He grumbled, "I'll be back then. I'm sorry about hitting you." The apology was rushed, he wasn't very good at such things, but it seemed like the right thing to do.

"I know. Now go to school. You need it." She flopped down on his bed, crossing her arms behind her head.

A sudden thought entered Ichigo's mind. He had decided to try and get to know his friends didn't he? Well Yoruichi ranked up there with people he didn't know well and he considered his friend, so why not start with her? He had an idea forming in his head. "Hey, Yoruichi?"

"Hm?"

"Wanna just hang out or something later, after school? I'm planning to invite Rukia, Ishida, the whole gang from school, and maybe even that crazy old man from the store." He was so nervous for some reason, it felt like he was asking her out.

Yoruichi raised a single eyebrow. "I thought I was hurt and was supposed to remain here?"

"Well, as long as you take it easy…I just figured, you know, it'd be a good reason for everyone to hang out. Build relations with Soul Society or something. I'd invite them if they'd come too, but I don't know how to get in contact with them. Heh." He sounded so nervous, it wasn't like him. He preferred to grab things by balls and get it done. It annoyed him.

"Hmmmm. Sure, I guess. I'm still tired though, so until then, shoo." The discussion over, she turned to her side and pulled the blankets up. With one final shake of his head, Ichigo quietly closed the door to get ready for school.

* * *

Yoruichi waited until the makeshift Shinigami had closed the door before sitting up. For some reason, and it bothered her, she found herself touched at his moment of concern over her wellbeing. She wasn't the type to accept coddling, and it annoyed her that she didn't mind him fussing over her a bit.

How long had it been since she allowed someone to take care of her? Besides Kisuke and his associates in crime, it had been ages since she had called anybody her friend, truly. Soifon was probably the only other person to receive that dubious honor and that was more an issue of adoration on the diminutive girl's end than any equality in friendship.

And yet this high school boy with a temper as loud as his mouth had somehow roped her in and put her under his broad reaching umbrella. Taken her in, and she grinned at the comparison, like some sort of stray cat, without any expectation on her end.

Damn, she hated gatherings, and somehow, she just didn't have the heart to turn the kid down.

She was getting too soft.

* * *

"Well, Tousen?" Aizen sat on his on his cold stone throne in the heart of the Las Noches castle, idly staring at a cup of wine as he waited for his subordinate to report in.

"Master Aizen," the blind Shinigami began, taking a knee, "It is as you expected. Our first foray was stopped quite thoroughly by someone other than the boy."

"I see. Odd, considering there is no assigned Shinigami as of yet for the area. Seems as if Soul Society is a bit…shaken…by our betrayal. Who was it?"

"Yoruichi Shihoin, of the—"

"Shihoin family and former commander of the Secret Mobile Corps…" Aizen interrupted, murmuring to himself.

"Yes."

"Oh? And what is that little girl doing protecting our target, hm?" The ever amused voice of Gin chirped as the grinning ex-Shinigami stepped out from the shadows of the doorway.

"Please do not assume things without proof," Tousen frowned.

Gin held out his hands and laughed, "You're too serious, blind man. Thinka 'bout it. Why else would the princess be there doing his job after she spent so many years in hiding? A pardon from Soul Society ain't enough to get that woman back under their heel, eh? She's there to protect the human, for whatever reason."

Tousen had nothing to say, his lips set in a grim line.

Aizen sighed, looking over at the rose on the table next to him, gently stroking the petals as he mulled over this turn of events. Let the two of them bicker as usual. The rose had been something he acquired while on a mission to the real world, and in a way had become his most prized possession. Something about the flower calmed him, though he didn't know why.

He was ruthless, like the flower, sharp and with thorns. Aizen didn't consider himself the bad guy. No, he was a revolutionist. A freedom fighter. Soul Society, and the God they served had ruled for too long. It was up to him to ensure that they answered for their atrocities. And that bullshit about them serving good was just bullshit. Good, bad, all of it was just words to give solace that what they were doing was justified. They weren't some innocent fighters of justice, like they believed. Who policed the police, after all? No, their sins would be laid bare when he took over and took accountability.

So what if he had to break a few eggs while making his omelet? He chuckled inwardly; leave it to Gin to come up with the perfect analogy from his strange obsession with human writings. Still, the atrocities he had to commit to get the job done were nowhere as bad as the everyday ones by Soul Society and their "God". If he was so good, why did he create a world that was full of such hurt? Where was this "God" when Aizen called out to him? Feh, it was enough to make him want to lash out. No, no matter how far he descended into darkness, it was a small pittance to create a perfect world.

"So, what's the plan, boss?" Gin interrupted.

"We send a few more…presents to see how well this boy is guarded."

"And then?"

"And then we kill them and break the human."

Gin smiled.


	13. MOVE

**Author's Blurbs**: Hey, back again with some dinky chapter I decided to just crap out to show the thought processes of Ichigo. Yeah, I take it slow, but I don't like people just falling in love and saving the world in a few chapters. I've noticed a lot of fanfiction has a tendency to God Mode their characters. No, not with this one. People die. People make mistakes. It's one of the reasons why Shakespeare is awesome. If you don't get that reference, then I suggest you read a few of his plays and get the themes behind them.

Also, speak up people! I've had over 4k hits since I came back and no one has wrote in what they want to make for a hollow in my little contest. Come on, guys! I'll mention your names and give you credit. Forever to immortalized in a arbitrary bit of fanfiction. When I become famous, you'll shoot yourself in the foot for not doing this. I don't bite...unless you're into that...Also review! What did you like? What didn't you like? What flowed well? What stuttered and seemed contrived? Analytical thinking can help you with your own writing as well.

Also, I have candy.

P.S: I don't own Bleach. Please don't sue me. I'm in the military. Life sucks enough as is.

* * *

**Chapter 13: M.O.V.E**

"Now if we look at this angle, we can see that it is acute, as in less than ninety degrees..." the math teacher droned, not that Ichigo was paying him any attention. He already knew the material; it wasn't like he was bad at school or anything. Actually, he was surprisingly good, if one could judge by people's reaction to his ranking in class.

No, he just had more things on his mind as he looked out the window at the white clouds above. His "fly by the seat of his pants" invitation to Yoruichi had been just that, a spur of the moment thing that now left him scrambling to put together the details to his vague plan.

The woman was a mystery to him. What little bit he got to know of her was whatever she let slip while she was training him, which wasn't much, and also the few tidbits he had gleaned from Rukia and the old man from the shop. Well, he figured, she had helped him on her own, with no discernable benefit on her part. Plus she was a friend of the old man, who though seemed to be a bit on the loopy side, had become just another addition to his ever growing circle of loopy friends. So the purple haired woman couldn't be all bad.

No, he decided, she was a friend. And Ichigo looked out for his friends. She seemed a bit reclusive to him and he was determined to show her that she could count on him and his circle of comrades. She didn't have to be alone. Not like he had to be after his mother...With a mental shake of his head, he threw that depressing train of thought away. He refused to mope around anymore. It did little respect to the memory of his mother if he was constantly sad over her, and he knew the free-spirited woman would want it that way.

A teeny, tiny, hidden part of him also quietly admitted that he found Yoruichi interesting. She was just so...what was the word...different? Yes, she was different from all the other women he knew. He kept trying to place a finger on what exactly it was, but kept coming up with nothing. Perhaps it was how confident she was, so self assured? Perhaps it was the aura of mystery she exuded. Curiosity got the cat as they say. But he felt that there was something hidden under that bravado, and Ichigo was usually spot on with his judgments of people.

To put it plainly, he found all his new acquaintances fascinating, and he figured the purple-haired princess was as good a place to start than any. With their line of work, he never knew how long his friends or he would be alive. It only made sense to enjoy the times while they lasted. He wanted to learn more about his friends and he wanted them to give it up freely, because what better way was there to live on than in the memory of those who care about you?

_Sheesh, when did I become so morbid? _He thought while watching a white cloud that from his current angle sort of looked like a strawberry.

_You know why..._A faint voice whispered in the recesses of his head, the echoing reverberating in the corners of his consciousness. _I'm coming for you, King...ahahahahahah..._

Ichigo bolted up out of reflex, his chair slapping against the desk behind him. Luckily no one but the student behind him noticed the outburst.

"Sorry." he muttered, rubbing the back of his head nervously before nonchalantly going back to his cloud watching. Underneath though, he was scared shitless.

The hollow had never gone so far as to answering his thoughts while awake...it has never been this bad before. Ichigo feared it was getting worse. It felt like he was sliding down a slippery slope that was an inevitable trip, no matter what he did.

With a deliberate sense of what was needed, he forced his breathing to calm down, waiting for the sound of his heart to stop beating down the walls of his chest. No, he'd just ignore this. He could fight this. He had no choice. No way was he going to let himself get beaten by one dumb hollow.

Back to the problem at hand. What could he do? It was first period and he had only until school was done to plan out what he wanted to do then invite his classmates. No doubt Rukia would yell at him for putting the princess at danger, sick as she was, but she'd get over it. Someone like Yoruichi was much in the same vein as Ichigo himself. Too free-spirited to remain shackled down, even when hurt.

Hmmmm. Well, he initially thought maybe a picnic...but that was fucking lame. You could do that anywhere at any time. The beach? No, he'd be walking right into a trap with that one. Yoruichi was probably just as perverted as the old man from the shop, and he'd be asking for it with her in a bathing suit. Not that the male part of him minded, no, actually it was quite insistent that he go that route. Especially since Inoue and Rukia would come too. He squished it as quickly as the uprising had started.

He didn't have the time to look for a relationship, even if had a chance with any of the three women. He just wasn't interested. Too much effort. Hmmmm...What to do? He slumped a bit, his iPod falling out his pocket at the motion. When he reached down to pick it up, he saw the track it was on and it hit him. The PERFECT way that was within the realm of being normal, and yet different enough to interest the cat woman and get her out of her comfort zone.

Plus it'd pay her back for teasing him so much. The day just got a bit brighter for Ichigo as he pulled out his phone and hid it behind his math book. Time to text a friend of his; he had a lot of work to do.


	14. The Smiling Man

**From Behind the Mask**

_Chapter 14: The Smiling Man_

* * *

There was a magnetic beat in the air; a thunderstorm of energy, heavy with tension, bulging at the seams with a tautness that seemed to stretch out and up, throwing the entire atmosphere onto that razor edge of excitement that made the very area tingle. Lights flickered across the entire availability of the spectrum, casting shadows off the myriad of people that swayed and gyrated in time to the music that blared from speakers embedded all across the building.

"A club? This was your big surprise?" Rukia asked, crossing her arms as she glared at Ichigo.

"I don't mind. It's been a long time since I've went to one of these places." Yoruichi said, sashaying past Ichigo toward the bar.

Ichigo raised a single eyebrow at that, almost daring Rukia to say something. So she did, grabbing Ichigo forcibly by the head until they were eye level. "Look, you idiot. We're not even supposed to be here. We'd get into a lot of trouble if we were caught. Also," and she pulled him into an impromptu headlock, "Did you forget the whole thing about taking care of Yoruichi and letting her get lots of rest? Clubs aren't great places for concussion victims, you idiot!"

It took him a few moments to remove his head from her vice-like grip, but eventually, with much pulling and sore ears, he managed to do so. "Look, I don't know what your problem is. I just wanted to hang out with my friends. There's nothing wrong with us being here as long as we don't drink, and Yoruichi promised me she'd take it easy. Calm down, squirt."

Rukia opened mouth to retort, and from the look in her eyes it looked like one hell of one, but then a cheery sing-song voice interrupted. "Hey, Ichi! We're here!"

They both turned to the group that just walked into the club. Inoue waved excitedly, dragging an exasperated looking Tatsuki and ever-calm Chad behind her. "This is amazing!" she said as she approached, "I've never been to a club before!"

"So, what are we doing here, Ichigo?" Chad looked a bit out of sorts. Ichigo wasn't surprised. He doubted the stolid man spent much time in such places.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind knowing either." Tatsuki echoed, looking around the club with a guarded expression.

"We're here to see a famous band that is playing tonight," they gave him questioning looks, so with a sigh, he continued, "A year ago there was an accident nearby the clinic, pretty bad car crash. Nobody was hurt badly, but to thank us, they gave their number and offered a free concert and backstage pass. So, when I heard they were in the area, I gave them a call and here we are."

"Well, at least that explains why you didn't have to pay anything at the entrance." Rukia grumbled.

Ichigo grinned. "You're just mad that you dressed like a twelve-year-old girl."

Of course this brought all the attention to the petite soul reaper and her bright yellow sun dress. Once again a fundamental law of the universe kicked in, and the equal and opposite reaction was a rather winch inducing fist aimed squarely between the eyes of a certain orange-haired substitute Shinigami.

For her size, Rukia packed one hell of a right punch.

* * *

Yoruichi watched it all with silent amusement. The dynamic between Ichigo and his friends was interesting. Idly she twirled the straw in her drink, pausing only to sip lightly on the margarita. They reminded her so much of her Soul Society days. So many strong, dominant personalities in one place, bound together by friendship and camaraderie. _Just like_...she sighed a bit, shaking her head free of that thought, this was making her all nostalgic.

"Yo, Yoruichi, going to join the rest of us?" Ichigo called from across the floor. She smiled back. Introductions, eh? She waited for the group to approach before standing up from the bar.

"Are you really Yoruichi?" Inoue asked as she approached, her eyes wide with disbelief, "As in, the black talking cat? With the man voice?"

"That'd be me."

"Wait, black talking cat?" Tatsuki chimed in, "What are you talking about Inoue?"

The red head started waving her hands frantically, "Aha! Nothing! It was a joke! Haha! A joke!"

Tatsuki wore a skeptical look on her face, but held out her hand to Yoruichi. "I'm Tatsuki Arisawa."

"Yoruichi Shihoin." she responded, taking the young girl's hand in her own.

"So, how exactly does Ichigo know you?" From the way the girl looked at her, Yoruichi assumed she didn't approve.

Yoruichi approved of her disapproval. When Ichigo had left, she was quick to go back to Kisuke's place, picking through the stockpile of clothing she kept there. When she had first come to the physical world, it hadn't taken her long to discover the joy of internet shopping (she always resolved to meet this Al Gore guy who apparently invented the internet and thank him). She deliberately picked the most thought provoking attire she could manage, ending up with tight form fitting leather pants, a sheer white undershirt that exposed her midsection, and a rather classy, at least by her estimation, tiny leather overcoat. Add the high heels and she was a walking bombshell of sexuality.

Well, she was pretty sure she did alright, if the initial reaction of Ichigo and Rukia was any gauge. Yoruichi wondered if how close he had been to critical blood loss. The nosebleed had been pretty bad. She did feel a bit guilty for making Rukia's choice of attire look childish, but in the end, she figured if you had it, it was your job to flaunt it.

And she had it. In spades.

"Oh, you didn't know? Ichigo and I met when he was staring at my naked body!"

"What?"

A rather irate Tatsuki turned to a now beet red Ichigo. Fortunately the red-haired high school student was saved from having to explain by dimming lights and a hush that fell over the crowd as the music abruptly stopped. As one, everyone turned to the stage, at the single woman that had walked out. She was beautiful; shoulder length dyed-blond hair that curled lightly at the ends, full lips that hide the slightest of smiles, and a pure porcelain complexion combined together to create an ensemble that left men panting and women jealous. She grabbed the mic, a single spotlight flaring on to illuminate her.

"Hello, everyone." she said politely, her elbows tucked into her sides as she held the mic, " I welcome you..." The woman's demeanor changed sharply as she looked out at the nameless people in the crowd. A fire lit in her eyes. "TO M.O.V.E!"

Two more spotlights flipped on, revealing the woman to be flanked by two more. One man stood station behind a massive keyboard, while the other, in contrast, held a mic like his female counterpart. Even as the background lights started flickering in an eclectic mix of colors and patterns the crowd erupted. Yoruichi felt as she had been picked up in a whirlpool and she was helpless to resist such honest enthusiasm. She caught herself smiling and jumping along as the music began blaring a fast and steady beat that matched her quickening pulse.

_A girl in the mirror, covered in scars, eyes staring blankly_

_I couldn't say a thing as the noisy emotions overwhelmed me_

The flashing lights mixed with the jumping bodies as the crowd worked itself into a frenzy. Somehow Yoruichi had gotten separated from Ichigo and company. Occasionally she would catch glimpses of orange or the yellow flash of a sundress, but she was enjoying herself too much to worry about such things. How long had it been since she had let herself go like this? Or more specifically, when was the last time she ever had the chance?

_Without a "Yes" or a "No," we live for an unclear future_

_Why does the messenger continue calling out?_

_Oh, we don't even know just where we are right now_

The woman was singing her heart out, urging the crowd to new heights of energy with every pulse pounding beat. The other man on the mic would break in to rap his parts. It was a well-practiced choreography designed to entice the full range of excitement from those listening. Then she started listening to the words:

_If you want to try making your dreams come true, break it up, keep going higher_

_Yeah, I don't need a spokesman, I want to tell you directly_

_If you want to try making your dreams come true, break it up, keep going higher_

_I don't need any technique to knock out your heart_

For some reason this saddened her. What a strange thought, considering her situation, considering where she was at. How many people were able to become sad while techno blared? How many reopened old wounds despite the almost euphoric high of the atmosphere? Such thoughts were dashed when Yoruichi felt a spike of reitsu she had not felt in quite some time. It carried itself on a chilling wind, making the very bones in her body feel brittle in uncharacteristic fear.

_Do You Feel The Pain Do You Feel The Pain Do You Feel The Pain?_

"How very appropriate, isn't it?" a voice said, the owner managing to sneak close enough to place his mouth right next to her ear. Close enough that his breath felt hot. "I am surprised to find you here, princess, yeah?"

Yoruichi ducked, using her weight to spin herself around in a vicious backhand. Nothing. No one was there except a very surprised teenager she had almost hit. The boy shot her a strange look and then wormed his way, jumping the entire time, through the crowd. The purple haired woman paid him no mind, her every sense focused pinpointing the person who had only a second ago been right behind her.

_The love and reality around me cry out_

_Do You Feel The Pain Do You Feel The Pain Do You Feel The Pain?_

Time seemed to slow down as the myriad of bodies pushed, and gyrated to the beat. Nothing but a cacophony of sweat, flailing hands, and music that wormed its way from the floor into your very body. Yoruichi struggled to separate the ocean of bodies. There! A flicker of white, a hint of pale skin, a devilish grin. The man stood in the throng of people, the bodies parting around him like waves of water. It was as if the two of them stood in their own stream of time.

"Hi there, princess. Long time no see, yeah?"

"Gin! What are you doing here?" There was too many people in this packed club. No way she could fight the man here!

The eternally grinning man seemed to know this, because his smile only grew, as if he was reading Yoruichi's mind. "Now, now, little cat, there is no need for that. I'm here to deliver a warning of things to come."

_So that I can protect what's precious to me_

_Painless pain_

"Why should I believe you?"

Gin cocked his head to the side, as if he had a hard time comprehending what she said, "Well, 'cause I have no reason to lie, that's why. Things'll be more interesting this way, don't ya agree?"

"Is this just a game for you, Gin?"

The former Shinigami shrugged, "Perhaps, eh? But Aizen knows about your little pet, and he's gonna do something about it. I'd be very careful if I were you, ya?"

Yoruichi opened her mouth to retort, but the crowd surged again and the white-haired man was lost in it. She pushed frantically, throwing aside people as she got to where Gin had been...nothing greeted her. He was gone.

Ichigo was in trouble...

_Can you feel the pain? Only watching TV to frown on it_

_Only knowing the words shouted so that someone, somewhere can live_

_Conforming to the silent majority so that no one points fingers behind your back_

_Look at this irony: You have no emotions, yet you want to express them_

* * *

**_Author's notes: I don't own any of this. Also, I liek mudkipz._**

**_Music: Masterpiece - Bayside; Radical Dreamers - Scars of Time_**


End file.
